The company responsible for dislodging the ship from the Suez Canal warned that the most difficult was missing: “You don’t have to claim victory so quickly.”

The managing director of Royal Boskalis, the parent company of the Dutch company hired to help unblock the container ship blocking the Suez Canal, warned on Monday that the hardest part was still to be done.

“The good news is that the stern is clear, but that’s what we consider the easier part. The challenge is always the frontPeter Berdowski told Dutch public radio.

“You don’t have to claim victory so quickly. The fact that he turned around is the easiest partBerdowski continued. Launch this vessel weighing over 220,000 tonnes and the length of four football fields always a “challenge”he insisted.

This Monday, the device has advanced considerably. “The maneuvers to refloat will resume when the water level rises, around 11:30 am local (09:30 GMT)”, according to the Suez Canal Authority (SCA). Shortly before, the Japanese shipping company Shoei Kisen, owner of the container ship, had confirmed that the “Ever Given” had “turned” but that it “was not floating yet”.

For his part, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al Sisi appeared to sing victory over the progress of the operation to liberate the blockade which began on Tuesday. “Today, the Egyptians have succeeded in ending the crisis of the stranded ship in the Suez Canal, despite the great technical complexity of the processThe president tweeted on Monday, after the Canal Authority announced that the gigantic ship had been redirected 80% in the “right direction.”

Despite this tweet from the president, the Authority had not yet officially announced at noon Monday the end of the ship unloading operation. According to an AFP journalist, the ship was still stationary on Monday shortly before noon (10 GMT). And, according to maritime traffic display sites, the “Ever Given” was still partially crossed in the Suez Canal on Monday morning.

Sisi also pointed out that “the Egyptians today have shown that they are still up to the task” and pointed out that the Suez Canal, opened in 1869, was dug by “their grandparents with the strength of their bodies. .

A first operation to get her back afloat failed on Friday. The next day, Rabie claimed the ship had “moved 30 degrees right and left” for the first time, a “good indicator”.

Once the incident is over, it will take three and a half days for all the waiting ships to cross the Channel, Rabie said.

The ship, 400 meters long and weighing more than 220,000 tons, deviated from its course on Tuesday. The “Ever Given” – 59 meters wide and around 60 meters high with its cargo – remained crossed in the southern part of the canal, near the town of Suez, blocking all navigation between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

Although the incident was initially attributed to strong winds combined with a sandstorm, weather conditions were not the only reason for the incident, SCA Chief Admiral Osama Rabie said on Saturday. “Other errors, human or technical, could also have come into play,” he said.

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