Suez Canal blocked as efforts to move stuck ship continue

Efforts to dislodge a giant vessel from the Suez Canal continued, with rescue teams trying to get traffic moving again in the one of the world’s most important waterways.

The Ever Given, a container ship longer than the Eiffel Tower that ran aground in the southern part of the canal in Egypt, is still stuck across the waterway despite efforts to release it, according to port agents and the ship’s manager. One port agent said earlier that traffic could resume by tomorrow, but the Suez Canal Authority remains silent on the matter. The incident is a reminder of how much international trade is channeled through so-called chokepoints -- geographically constrained waterways that include the Strait of Hormuz and Panama Canal. Dozens of vessels are already gridlocked at Suez and a lengthy halt could further stretch supply chains that have already been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.