ISMAILIA- Ship traffic at Suez Canal in egypt will be temporarily suspended until a grounded giant container ship that blocked the world’s busiest trade route can move again, Suez Canal Authority head Osama Rabei said on Thursday.
Eight giant tugs are still trying to free the 400m-long (1,312ft) ship, which was knocked off course by strong winds, and diggers on the ground have been removing sand from where it is wedged into the side of the canal bank, he said in a statement.
Thirteen ships passed through Port Said as part of the south-bound convoy and were supposed to transit the Suez Canal if the Panamanian-flagged ship was re-floated but they were forced to transit at the Great Lakes till ship traffic is fully resumed at the international waterway, he added.
The Ever Given, registered in Panama and operated by the shipping company Evergreen, was bound for the port city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands from China and was passing northwards through the canal on its way to the Mediterranean.
The 200,000 ton ship, built in 2018 and operated by Taiwanese transport company Evergreen Marine, ran aground and became lodged sideways across the waterway at about 07:40 local time (05:40 GMT) on Tuesday.
