Experts from the Panama flag and the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) have begun their investigations into how the Ever Given went drastically off line and ploughed through a great deal of sandy clay before impaling itself in the rocks on the bank of the Suez Canal.
The ship’s owner, manager and operator have all said that high winds were the cause. However, the SCA has insisted on leaving open the possibility that human or mechanical error might have been a factor, citing the fact that other vessels had got through without a problem and that vessels the size of the Ever Given had negotiated the 120-mile channel many times before.
Meanwhile the International Transport Workers’ Federation has confirmed that none of the 25 crew on the vessel were over-contract, with all of them having been onboard for less than six months.