‘She’s free’: Giant ship blocking Suez Canal refloated, shipping traffic resumes

A giant ship that got stuck and blocked Egypt’s Suez Canal for almost a week was refloated on Monday. Shipping traffic has resumed and officials said it could take around three days to clear the backlog.

Shipping traffic through Egypt’s Suez Canal has resumed after a giant container ship which had been blocking the busy waterway for almost a week was refloated, the canal authority said. The 400-metre (430-yard) long Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early last Tuesday, halting traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia. Live footage on a local television station showed the ship surrounded by tug boats moving slowly in the centre of the canal. The station, ExtraNews, said the ship was moving at a speed of 1.5 knots.