Giant Cargo Ship Grounding Blocks Egypt's Suez Canal

CAIRO, (AFP) - Tug boats worked Wednesday to free a giant container ship stuck in the Suez Canal after it veered off course in a sandstorm, creating huge tailbacks on one of the world's busiest trade routes.

Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said it was trying to refloat the Taiwan-run, Panama-flagged MV Ever Given, a 400-meter (1,300-foot) long and 59-metre wide vessel.

Satellite pictures released by Planet Labs Inc show the container ship wedged diagonally across the entire canal.

The blockage of the Suez Canal – which provides passage for 10 percent of all international maritime trade – helped send world oil prices surging 4.6 percent.

The authority said the stranded ship was caught up in a gale-force sandstorm, a common occurrence in Egypt’s Sinai desert at this time of year, which blotted out light and limited the captain's ability to see.

It was “mainly due to the lack of visibility due to the weather conditions when winds reached 40 knots, which affected the control'' of the ship, the SCA said.