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Suez Canal Blockage Could Take ‘Days, Even Weeks’ To Fix
“The damage done to the global supply chain will be significant,” say officials.
As a backlog of ships continues to build in the Suez Canal in Egypt, one of two salvage companies working to free the enormous container ship stuck in the waterway warned on Thursday that the obstruction could take days or even weeks to remove.
The Ever Given, a container ship registered in Panama and operated by a a company called Shoei Kisen Kaisha, became stuck in the Suez Canal after losing the ability to steer in the high winds of a sandstorm that caused low visibility, the Suez Canal Authority said in a statement. All attempts to move the ship from in the 130-mile-long waterway have failed so far.
The company announced that all 25 crew members, who were all Indian citizens, were safe and did not report any injuries.
The Suez Canal is one of the world’s busiest waterways, responsible for 30% of the world’s shipping container volume, 12% of the world trade volume and $10 billion a day in cargo. Nearly 19,000 ships passed through the canal during 2020, an average of 51.5 ships per day, according to the Suez Canal Authority.
The threat to global shipments and trade has prompted frantic efforts from the Suez Canal Authority, which deployed dredgers, tug boats and…