Freeing jammed Suez Canal ship could take 'days to weeks'

Eight tugboats are working to refloat the Ever Given, which has been wedged sideways in the Suez Canal since Tuesday.
A handout picture released by the Suez Canal Authority on March 24, 2021 shows a part of the Taiwan-owned MV Ever Given (Evergreen), a 400-metre- (1,300-foot-) long and 59-metre wide vessel, lodged sideways and impeding all traffic across the waterway of Egypt's Suez Canal. - A giant container ship ran aground in the Suez Canal after a gust of wind blew it off course, the vessel's operator said on March 24, 2021, bringing marine traffic to a halt along one of the world's busiest trade routes. (Photo by Suez
A handout picture released by the Suez Canal Authority on March 24, 2021, shows a part of the Taiwan-owned MV Ever Given (Evergreen), a 400-meter- (1,300-foot-) long and 59-meter-wide vessel, lodged sideways and impeding all traffic across the waterway of Egypt's Suez Canal. The giant container ship ran aground in the Suez Canal after a gust of wind blew it off course, the vessel's operator said on March 24, 2021, bringing marine traffic to a halt along one of the world's busiest trade routes. - Suez Canal Authority/Handout/AFP via Getty Images
Al Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East
Al-Monitor Staff

It could take days, if not weeks, to dislodge a massive container ship that remains stuck in Egypt’s Suez Canal, a salvage company official said Thursday, as the bottleneck worsened in the world’s busiest waterway.

Eight tugboats are working to refloat the Ever Given, a 220,000-metric-ton container ship that was headed to the port of Rotterdam when 31 mph winds and a sandstorm Tuesday caused poor visibility and the vessel ran aground near the southern end of the canal.

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