SUEZ, Egypt (AP) — Two additional tugboats are speeding to Egypt’s Suez Canal to aid efforts to free a skyscraper-sized container ship wedged for days across the crucial waterway.
Major shippers are increasingly diverting their boats out of fear the vessel may take even longer to free.
The massive Ever Given, a Panama-flagged, Japanese-owned ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe, got stuck Tuesday in a single-lane stretch of the canal.
PHOTO GALLERY: Massive cargo ship still wedged in Suez Canal
Meanwhile, the head of the Suez Canal Authority said Saturday that strong winds were “not the only cause” for the Ever Given running aground. The official said at a news conference that an investigation is underway but did not rule out human or technical error. He also says he cannot predict when the vessel will be dislodged and the canal reopened.
Traffic through the canal — valued at over $9 billion a day — has been halted, further disrupting a global shipping network already strained by the coronavirus pandemic. More than 320 ships are waiting for passage through the crucial waterway.
