Maritime traffic jam grows near stuck ship

SUEZ, EGYPT — A maritime traffic jam grew to more than 200 vessels Friday outside the Suez Canal and some vessels began changing course as dredgers and tugboats worked to free a giant container ship that is stuck sideways in the waterway and disrupting global shipping.

One salvage expert said freeing the cargo ship, the Ever Given, could take up to a week in the best-case scenario and warned of possible structural problems on the vessel as it remains wedged.

The Ever Given, owned by the Japanese firm Shoei Kisen KK, got wedged Tuesday in a single-lane stretch of the canal, about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) north of the southern entrance, near the city of Suez.

Dredgers have stopped removing sand around the bow of the vessel and tugboats were preparing another towing attempt, said Lt. Gen. Osama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority, in a statement Friday night. There was no immediate word on whether they have managed to budge the skyscraper-sized vessel, and previous attempts with tugboats were unsuccessful.

A team from Boskalis, a Dutch firm specializing in salvaging, was working with the canal authority with tugboats and a specialized suction dredger at the port side of the cargo ship’s bow. Egyptian authorities have prohibited media access to the site.

“It’s a complex technical operation” that will require several attempts to free the vessel, Rabei said in a statement.

Attempts earlier Friday to free it failed, said Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the technical manager of the Ever Given.

The Suez Canal Authority said it welcomed international assistance. The White House said it has offered to help Egypt reopen the canal. “We are consulting with our Egyptian partners about how we can best support their efforts,” press secretary Jen Psaki said.

An initial investigation showed the vessel ran aground due to strong winds and ruled out mechanical or engine failure, the company said. GAC, a global shipping and logistics company, had previously said the ship had experienced a power blackout, but it did not elaborate.