The gigantic container ship which sparked global shipping chaos when it blocked the Suez Canal for six days has finally arrived in the UK - four months later than planned.
The skyscraper-sized Ever Given vessel docked at Felixstowe port, Suffolk on Tuesday afternoon to scores of awaiting spectators on the coastline.
The Panama-flagged boat, which weighs 220,000 tonnes, was originally meant to arrive in the UK port in early April.
But it hit headlines a month earlier when it got itself wedged for almost a week in Egypt's famously narrow Suez Canal, bringing international shipping to a grinding halt.
The gigantic container ship which sparked global shipping chaos when it blocked the Suez Canal for six days has finally arrived in the UK - four months later than planned
The blockage is estimated to have disrupted around £42billion of global trade, with the ship only being re-floated after six days.
Companies such as IKEA and Lenovo are just two of the businesses with products on the Japanese-owned vessel, with other smaller firms also awaiting the arrival of their stock.
Jack Griffiths, 26, who runs the cosy blanket company Snuggy, said that his company is currently waiting on over £400,000 of stock, totalling around 8,000 individual items.
He told MailOnline: 'If ours is one of the first to be taken off we could be looking at getting it on Friday this week but if it’s one of the later ones we could be looking at Tuesday next week.'
Jack Griffiths, 26, (right) who runs the cosy blanket company Snuggy, said that his company is currently waiting on over £400,000 of stock, totalling around 8,000 individual items
Despite the months of delays in getting his stock, Jack said his company has received very little communication about the status of his goods. He said: 'The communication has been terrible, we’ve been left in the dark about it.
'I’m not sure if it’s been the same for the bigger companies like IKEA or the other big guns on there, but we’ve been absolutely left in the dark and not heard anything. We’ve had to do our own research to find out what’s been happening.'
Explaining the effect the delays have had on his business, Jack told MailOnline: 'It’s had a huge knock on effect on the whole company and had a domino effect further down the line. We’ve managed to somehow keep it away from the customers and not let anyone down and still been fulfilling orders.
'It’s damaged our cashflow as all the stock was fully paid for… the cashflow has damaged our stock levels, meaning we can’t buy more stock to advertise the way we want to. It’s just kept going and going, we’ve been on the verge now for a couple of months now.
The Panama-flagged boat, which weighs 220,000 tonnes, was originally meant to arrive in the UK port in early April. But it hit headlines a month earlier when it got itself wedged for almost a week in Egypt's famously narrow Suez Canal, bringing international shipping to a grinding halt
'We should adapt and get back on our feet fairly quickly, but we’ve lost a vital 6 months of our start-up growth period which we wont get back. So that’s a tough pill to swallow.'
Jack also said that he never imagined his £400,00 of stock would be delayed for so many months, initially predicting he would see his goods within two weeks.
'Iits something you can’t really pan for as a business owner,' he said. 'You expect he short delays, but something like this, especially with the biggest order we’ve ever placed, to get a delay like this, it’s just crazy.'
Bicycle maker Pearson 1860 has been stuck in limbo since the ship ran aground in the Suez Canal with $100,000-worth of stock onboard.
Speaking to CNN back in June, the company's director Will Pearson said: 'We don't hold out much hope of seeing our stock this year and although it is insured in transit, we have guessed there will be little chance of seeing a settlement for months if not years.'
The skyscraper-sized Ever Given vessel docked at Felixstowe port, Suffolk on Tuesday afternoon to scores of awaiting spectators on the coastline
Also still sitting in cargo containers on the ship include items such as barbecues, bamboo, lawnmowers, camping equipment, laptops and tofu, among other products, the Guardian previously reported.
Large crowds - from boat enthusiasts to young families - gathered at Felixstowe today to catch a glimpse of what is arguably the world's most famous container ship.
The Ever Given arrived from Rotterdam, Netherlands, where it docked on July 29 with 18,300 containers on board.
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