A happy ending appears to be in sight for the hundreds of ships blocked by the massive container ship in the Suez Canal – including one carrying a cargo of sex toys, according to a report.
Engineers have “partially refloated” the gargantuan Ever Given, which became wedged in the vital global waterway for almost a week, causing a shipping logjam that has caused almost $10 billion in commercial losses a day.
As the operation to free the leviathan reaches a climax, a ship bearing about 20 containers of dildos, vibrators and male masturbators may finally continue its voyage and get the adult toys into the eager hands of frustrated customers, the UK’s Metro reported.
EDC Retail — a Dutch company that runs the biggest online sex toys shop in the Netherlands and Belgium — predicts it is losing millions because it has been unable to replenish its stocks after huge sales during the coronavirus lockdown and Valentine’s Day, according to the outlet.
Company honchos considered rerouting the ship around Africa, but that would have taken an extra five to seven days to reach its destination.
“There are more than 20 containers full of well-running items, such as vibrators, dildos and male masturbators,” CEO Evertine Magerman told Dutch news website RTV Noord.
“A lot of these products were sold for Christmas and Valentine’s Day, for example. There is now an extra lot on the way to restore stocks, but that is not possible now,” Magerman said.
“It is annoying that such a hitch will continue for a long time before the rhythm in the transport chain is restored,” she added.
Satellite data from MarineTraffic.com showed that the Ever Giben’s bulbous bow has been partly wrested from the shore — although it remained stuck at the canal’s edge.
The ship’s stern has swung around and is now in the middle of the waterway, the tracking data showed.
Although the development marked the vessel’s most significant movement since getting stuck last week, the salvage crew urged caution as obstacles remained.
“Don’t cheer too soon,” Peter Berdowski, CEO of Boskalis, the salvage firm hired to extract the Ever Given, told Dutch NPO Radio 1.
With Post wires