CAIRO, Egypt
A massive container ship stuck in the Suez Canal has been refloated, Bloomberg News reported, citing shipping services provider Inchcape.
The Ever Given had been stuck sideways across Egypt's canal since
Tuesday, clogging a vital artery for the global economy and forcing multiple ships
to turn around and reroute through Africa.
Tugboats are now
working on straitening the vessel's course so it can continue moving up the
canal, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"It is good
news," Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, told The
Journal. "We are not finished yet, but it has moved."
It is unclear how soon
the canal would be opened up to the more than 400 ships that are stuck waiting
for it to clear.
The 1,300 foot-long
cargo ship, one of the world's largest, became wedged in the Suez Canal early
Tuesday morning.
Egyptian officials
initially blamed the weather, including strong winds and a dust storm. But on Saturday,
officials said the logjam could be the result of "technical or human errors."
The nearly six-day
blockage forced some ships to take a costly, dangerous detour thousands of
miles around the southern tip of Africa,
and was reportedly costing the global economy $400 million an hour in delayed goods.
Tugboats and excavators
had been working to free the ship for days with little success.
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