Although the world was watching, the Egyptian media has barely reported on the Ever Given, the ship that blocked the Suez Canal.
“The accident caused image damage,” says correspondent Ruth Vandewalle in “The morning” on Radio 1. “The state considers it important to only send positive messages about the Suez Canal to the world.”
The Ever Given, a 400 meters long and almost 60 meters wide container ship, has been blocking the Suez Canal since last Tuesday. Yesterday, Leth Agencies, the channel’s service provider, announced that the ship was completely detached. Other shipping traffic on the canal has now also resumed. However, it will still take a few days before all the backlog is cleared.
For a week, the Suez Canal was in the spotlight of the world press, but it was hardly reported in Egypt. “The state directs almost all Egyptian media,” said Ruth Vandewalle, Cairo correspondent, in “The Morning” on Radio 1. “There is no real free press anymore. the sailing route, but more than ever, Egypt tried to keep the world press away. “
“The official state newspapers had even written on their front pages on Thursday that the Suez Canal was open again and that the shipping traffic was resumed, while the ship was still deadlocked,” says Vandewalle. “Then you see very clearly how important the Suez Canal is to them and how important it is for the state to send only positive messages to the world.”