Efforts intensify to dislodge tanker blocking trade via Suez Canal

Cairo (dpa), 26 March, 2021- An operation is intensifying to dislodge a giant container ship that has blocked the Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest trade routes, since Tuesday, triggering fears of a significant toll on global trade.

The Panama-flagged ship, Ever Given, ran aground in the canal on Tuesday due to a sandstorm. The accident is preventing more than 200 other cargo vessels from passing through the major shipping route, according to the trade journal Lloyd’s List. Giant tug boats and a suction dredger are being used to free the 400-metre-long tanker. The estimated removal is designed to reach a depth of 12 to 16 metres that can allow refloating the vessel, SCA added. The blockage is estimated to be holding up goods worth 9.6 billion dollars per day in the passageway, which handles about 12 per cent of the overall global trade, according to shipping data.