The Ever Given is sitting in an artificial lake off the Suez Canal while experts work out if it is fit to sail, and what to do with the 20,000 containers on board

The Ever Given is sitting in an artificial lake off the Suez Canal while experts work out if it is fit to sail, and what to do with the 20,000 containers on board

The recently-freed Ever Given container ship is waiting in a lake off the Suez Canal, where authorities are inspecting it for seaworthiness and working out what to do with its cargo. 

The Ever Given, a 220,000 ton, 1,300-ft long ship, was freed Monday after being grounded in the Suez Canal for six days, completely blocking the crucial maritime route. 

Following its release “” thanks to tugboats and dredgers working night and day “” it was moved to the Great Bitter Lake, a large body of water that divides the canal into two sections. 

The company that leases the ship, Evergreen, wrote in a statement Monday that the vessel will now be inspected to see if it can continue its originally planned journey to Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.  

The Ever Given is capable of carrying 20,000 containers and was fully laden when it got stuck. According to Lt. General Osama Rabie, head of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), none of them were damaged, Reuters reported.

"The ship was ready for limited navigation after an initial inspection and not a single container was damaged, but a second investigation will be more precise and if it was affected it will show," Rabie said. 

If the Ever Given cannot sail