Suez Canal may be blocked for weeks

A CONTAINER ship blocking the Suez Canal like a “beached whale” may take weeks to free, the salvage company said, as officials stopped all ships entering the channel yesterday in a new setback for global trade.

The 400m Ever Given is blocking transit in both directions through one of the world’s busiest shipping channels for oil and grain and other trade linking Asia and Europe.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said eight tugs were working to move the vessel, which got stuck diagonally across the single-lane southern stretch of the canal on Tuesday amid high winds and a dust storm.

A total of 206 large container ships, tankers carrying oil and gas, and bulk vessels hauling grain have backed up at either end of the canal, Egypt’s Leith Agencies said, creating one of the worst shipping jams seen for years.

The blockage comes on top of the disruption to world trade already caused in the past year by Covid-19.

The SCA, which had allowed some vessels to enter the canal in the hope the blockage could be cleared, said it had temporarily suspended all traffic yesterday. Maersk said in a customer advisory it had seven vessels affected.

About 30% of the world’s shipping container volume transits through the 193km Suez Canal daily, and about 12% of total global trade of all goods.

Shipping experts say that if the blockage is not cleared in the coming days, some shipping may re-route around Africa, which would add roughly a week to the journey.

Japanese shipowner Shoei Kisen apologised for the incident and said work on freeing the ship “has been extremely difficult” and it was not clear when the vessel would float again.