Ever Given: Cargo unloaded from ship that blocked Suez Canal

The huge container ship that blocked the Suez Canal is being unloaded after it arrived in the UK.

The Ever Given docked at Felixstowe, Suffolk, at 16:30 BST on Tuesday, its first UK visit since causing disruption to global shipping.

The Port of Felixstowe said 2,000 containers were being unloaded by crane and the process would take about 24 hours.

It said the 400m-long (1,300ft) vessel was due to leave at 02:00 on Thursday.

The ship, operated by Taiwanese firm Evergreen Marine, was originally due to arrive at Felixstowe in early April.

It blocked the major shipping lane in Egypt for almost a week in March.

Hundreds of ships were delayed as they waited for the canal to be unblocked and some vessels were forced to take the much longer route around the southern tip of Africa.

When the ship, which carries cargo between Asia and Europe, was finally freed it was held up again until an agreement between Japanese owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd, and canal authorities was reached over compensation.

Dozens of ship-spotters lined the beach to watch it arrive at Felixstowe.

Goods in the Ever Given's 18,000 total containers have an estimated value of $775m, but many of them will hold fruit and vegetables which will have to be destroyed, having passed their use-by date.

The bulk of the containers were offloaded at Rotterdam prior to its journey to Felixstowe.

Jake Slinn, owner of JS Global Cargo & Freight Disposal in Ipswich, said his business was expecting 20 to 30 containers from the ship.

In the coming weeks his business will be hired either to destroy unwanted cargo - such as out-of-date food items - or manage abandoned cargo.

"At the moment we've not taken any items from the ship," he said.

Meanwhile, Kingsway Golf Centre in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire, is looking forward to finally adding two new dinosaur models to its Jurassic Links crazy golf course.

It said it had already cleared space around the 17th and 18th holes for the giant Tyrannosaurus rex model, nicknamed Dino, before it became stuck on the Ever Given.

The course is also waiting for the arrival of Dino's 4m (13ft) wide pterodactyl friend.

"The forced isolation for these two spectacular dinosaurs is over," said marketing manager Fred Dell.

He said they expected the two models, plus other "dino bits and bobs" to arrive on Monday.

The Ever Given's next destination after Felixstowe is Hamburg, Germany.

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