News / Disaster-hit Ever Given and Maersk Essen pass each other safely at Felixstowe

Ships involved in two of container shipping’s worst accidents this year met in Felixstowe yesterday.

Ever Given, which blocked the Suez Canal for six days, passed the Maersk Essen which lost 750 boxes in January, heading for its berth at Trinity Terminal some four months late.

The irony of the meeting was not lost on one embattled insurer who photographed the Ever Given as it passed the 13,100 teu Maersk Essen on its approach to the berth.

Crowds that lined the riverbanks on the approach of the 20,124 teu Ever Given came from far and wide to witness its final discharge call before dry-docking.

Journalists mixed with members of the public and cargo stakeholders, including Steve Harris, of the marine and cargo practice Marsh, to see the vessel’s arrival.

It was an “I was there” moment for some, but for those involved in the complex General Average process of the cargo discharged from the vessel, it was a case of relating the mass of paperwork to the physical presence of a ship.

“I wanted to come to see the ship that has caused me so much work over the past four months,” said a senior marine insurer.

For the photographers, Ever Given looked disappointingly light on deck, having already discharged three-quarters of its 12,000 boxes at Rotterdam, but one insurer was happy with that outcome, saying the Dutch were “welcome to the GA issues”.