CAIRO – A giant container ship got stuck crossing the Suez Canal late Tuesday, blocking traffic through one of the world’s major shipping lanes as tugs struggled to free it.
It was unclear what impact the blockade could have on global shipping through the canal, which connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and carries around 10 percent of global shipping.
Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie, the head of the agency overseeing the Suez Canal, said the agency is reopening an older section of the canal to allow ships to navigate the waterway again.
“The Suez Canal will spare no effort to restore shipping and serve the movement of world trade,” he said in a statement, adding that rescue units and eight tugs continued to try to get the stuck ship afloat on Wednesday morning.
The ship, which was sailing from China to the Dutch port of Rotterdam, ran aground in poor visibility and strong winds from a sandstorm that hit much of northern Egypt this week, according to George Safwat, a spokesman for the canal authority.
The storm caused an “inability to steer the ship,” he said in a statement.
Pictures from the canal showed the container-laden ship – the Ever Given, which is nearly a quarter mile long – sitting sideways across the canal at such an angle that the name of the company that owns it, Evergreen, is clearly legible on the ship behind. Its bow seemed to be stuck on the rocky east bank of the canal.
“The ship in front of us ran aground when we drove through the canal and is now stuck on the side,” wrote an Instagram user named @fallenhearts17 on Tuesday evening. “Looks like we might be here a little …”
A living navigator showed a group of other ships blocking the canal behind the Ever Given while they waited for them to move. When, according to the pursuer, the ship suddenly turned sideways, several tugs rushed to rescue him, without success.
