The Ever Given was freed with the help of the Mashhour, a huge dredging ship that moves 70,000 cubic feet of sand an hour

• The Ever Given, a massive container ship stuck in the Suez Canal, has been freed.
• It was helped by a huge dredging ship that can shift more than 70,000 cubic feet of sand an hour.
• The Ever Given blocked one of the world's most important trade routes for almost a week.

The massive container ship that spent days wedged in the Suez Canal was freed Monday with the help of a huge dredging ship that can shift more than 70,000 cubic feet of sand an hour.

The Ever Given was stuck across the canal for six days, blocking one of the world's busiest trade routes and causing a huge and costly backlog in both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

Key to the eventual success dislodging it was a huge dredger called Mashhour, which started working Thursday to remove sand from around the ship.

The below painting shows what it looks like:

-John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) March 28, 2021

And this photo shows it in action:

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the technical manager of the Ever Given, said the dredger could shift 2,000 cubic meters of material an hour - more than 70,000 cubic feet.

This video shows the Mashhour's crew celebrating after the Ever Given was freed:

-Anas Alhajji (@anasalhajji) March 29, 2021

Osama Rabie, the Suez Canal Authority chief, said the Mashhour did most of the dredging work around the Ever Given. Its work, he said, was what allowed tugboats to start their efforts to move the ship.

Other, smaller dredgers that could get closer to the Ever Given were also used. Combined they vacuumed up 27,000 cubic meters of sand and mud around the ship, the Associated Press reported.