Meet The Dredgers And Tugboats That Freed The Ever Given

It's like the old saying goes: It takes a village to rescue a Golden-class container ship. More specifically, it takes 18 tugboats and a dredger over a period of six days, if we're being pedantic.

Anyhow, the Ever Given is finally free as of Monday morning thanks to around-the-clock digging and tugging, not to mention a lift from Mother Nature herself in the form of rising tide. The Suez Canal Authority threw everything it had at the effort, and when that didn't suffice, it called in the assistance of even larger machinery. Here, we're recognizing their contributions to the seemingly impossible task.

Here it is: The savior of the Suez, the dredger that all dredgers want to be, the venerable Mashhour. This cutter suction dredger operated by the SCA was instrumental in freeing the Ever Given. It's capable of moving 2,000 cubic meters of sand per hour, a talent for which its crew holds it in very high regard.

Operated by Svitzer Middle East, these tugs first arrived at Egypt's Port Said in November 2019 and January 2020. Under normal circumstances they're each tasked with providing towage services to 10 vessels daily, according to Baird Maritime.

Built in 2009, the ALP Guard was one of the big guns called in to assist the Ever Given rescue on Sunday. It's capable of a 285 metric-ton bollard pull, making it the strongest tug boat in the effort. Here you can see it towing the Iron Lady cargo barge back in 2018, never thwarted despite strong headwinds.

Alongside the ALP Guard, the Carlo Magno, built by Rosetti Marino and registered in Italy, arrived to the Ever Given's aid late in the weekend. Rated at an 155 metric-ton bollard pull, it's not as strong as the Guard, though it is nearly as powerful as the Suez Canal Authority's biggest vessels.

The ocean-going Baraka I was built in 1993 by the Suez Canal Authority, and last week it led the SCA's own initial attempts to free the Ever Given alongside the year-newer Ezzat Adel. Together, the SCA calls them the most powerful tugboats in the Middle East, touting a continuous bollard pull rating of 160 metric tons each.

The Salam crew is a group of "highly maneuverable" tugs deployed by the SCA. They're not as formidable as the multipurpose Baraka I and Ezzat Adel, though what they lack in individual towing power they compensate for in quantity and agility — making them suitable for use in tight harbors. Their responsibilities include "salvage, fire fighting, mooring and escorting of large tankers and other services," according to the SCA.

Many more tugboats were deployed in the six days the Ever Given was lodged in the Suez, courtesy of both the SCA itself and local operators. These were relatively smaller boats in comparison to the heavy hitters mentioned earlier, with bollard pull ratings between 40 and 70 metric tons. Images of them are difficult to source; nevertheless, their contributions shouldn't be forgotten, so we've listed them here:

• Moustafa Mahmoud

• Abdel Hamid Youssef

• Tahia Misr 1

• Tahia Misr 2

• Mosaed 2

• Mosaed 3

• Moshaeb

• Basel 2

• A Bahgat