Policyholder Pulse
A few weeks have passed since the Suez Canal was cleared of the now infamous Ever Given, the quarter-mile-long, 220,000-ton cargo ship that ran aground, clogging one of the world’s most crucial shipping arteries for over six days. For almost a week, the world was captivated by an 869-foot-wide portion of the historic canal built in 1869 to connect the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez. Ordinary people from all walks of life instantly became armchair marine engineers, nautical scientists and tugboat captains, offering advice on how to free the ship in a matter of minutes, while hundreds of massive cargo vessels sat stranded at either end of the canal. Finally, on March 29, 2021, after around-the-clock efforts by international teams, salvage crews extricated the ship, allowing the rest of us to turn (reluctantly) back to our day jobs.