ISMAILIA, Egypt (AP) – Tugs and a specialized dredger worked Friday to dislodge a giant container ship that has been trapped sideways in Egypt’s Suez Canal for the past three days, blocking a crucial waterway for global shipping.
The Ever Given, a Panama-flagged ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe, ran aground in the narrow channel that runs between Africa and the Sinai Peninsula. It got stuck in a one-lane stretch of the canal about six kilometers (3.7 mi) north of the south entrance, near the city of Suez.
The ship, owned by Japanese firm Shoei Kisen KK, has blocked traffic in the canal, causing global trade a headache.
About 10% of world trade flows through the canal, which is especially crucial for the transportation of oil. The shutdown could also affect oil and gas shipments to Europe from the Middle East.
At least 150 ships were awaiting approval from the Ever Given, including ships near Port Said on the Mediterranean, Port Suez on the Red Sea and ships already trapped in the canal system at Egypt’s Great Bitter Lake, Leth Agencies said , which provides services for the channel.
As of Friday morning, the ship remained aground, Leth Agencies added. It remains unclear when the route would reopen.
An Egyptian official with the Suez Canal Authority described the work as complex, saying that those who tried to detach the ship wanted to avoid complications that could prolong the canal closure. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorized to speak to journalists.
The bow of the Ever Given touched the east wall, while the stern appeared to be against the west wall.
A team from Boskalis, a Dutch company specialized in salvage, went to work with the canal authority on Thursday. The rescue efforts focused on dredging to remove sand and mud from around the port side of the ship’s bow.
The Suez Canal Authority, which operates the waterway, is deploying tugs and a specialized dredger capable of moving 2,000 cubic meters of material every hour.
The Suez Canal Authority said late Thursday that it would need to remove between 15,000 and 20,000 cubic meters (530,000 to 706,000 cubic feet) of sand to reach a depth of 12 to 16 meters (39 to 52 feet). That depth will likely float the ship free again, he said.
It was not immediately clear why the Ever Given got stuck on Tuesday. GAC, a global shipping and logistics company, said the ship had blacked out without elaborating further.
Evergreen Marine Corp., a major Taiwan-based shipping company that operates the vessel, said in a statement that the Ever Given was overwhelmed by high winds as it entered the Red Sea Channel, but none of the containers had sunk.
The Suez Canal Authority also blamed bad weather for the incident.
Using data from Automatic Identification System trackers on ships at sea, data company Refinitiv shared an analysis with the AP that showed that more than 300 ships continued to make their way to the waterway over the next two weeks.
Some ships could still change course, but the buzz of ships listing the Suez Canal as their destination shows that there is an even greater backlog of shippers already under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic.