Maritime traffic jam grows outside blocked Suez Canal

The container ship blocking the Suez Canal could cost global trade $6b to $10b a week, says a study; fake social media posts blame Egypt’s first female shipmaster Marwa for Suez Canal blockage

CAIRO

A maritime traffic jam grew to more than 200 vessels on Friday outside the Suez Canal and some vessels began changing course as dredgers worked frantically to free a giant container ship that is stuck sideways in the waterway and disrupting global shipping.

One salvage expert said freeing the cargo ship, the Ever Given, could take up to a week in the best-case scenario and warned of possible structural problems on the vessel as it remains wedged.

The Suez Canal Authority said it welcomed international offers to help free the vessel, including one from the United States, although it did not say what kind of assistance was offered.

The container ship blocking the Suez Canal could cost global trade $6 billion to $10 billion a week, a study by German insurer Allianz showed on Friday.

The study by Europe’s biggest insurer also found that each week of immobilisation shaves some 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points off annual trade growth.

“The problem is that the Suez Canal blockage is the straw that breaks global trade’s back,” the study’s authors wrote.