An improbable sea traffic jam is blocking one of the most important sea routes in the world, after a huge cargo ship got stuck laterally on the waterway.
Tankers were seen lining up for hours near the entrance to Egypt’s Suez Canal, which accounts for 12 percent of world trade and normally receives 50 cargo ships passing between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea daily.
A strong sandstorm and poor visibility are responsible for the 220,000 tonne and 400 meter (1,312 ft) container turning sideways near the south end of the channel on Tuesday morning.
Egyptian authorities at the Suez Canal Authority confirmed that they are still trying to reflow the ship, called Ever Given, after it ran aground on its journey from China to Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.
Several rescue attempts to dislodge the ship have so far failed.
The Suez Canal ships were being diverted to an older channel on Wednesday after the stranded cargo ship passed the 24-hour mark.
“All crew members are safe and in control,” said Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, who manages Ever Given. “There were no reports of injuries or pollution.”
Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics
The vessel is operated by the Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen and is registered in Panama.
Bottleneck reports emerged after satellite data showed that Ever Given’s bow was touching the east wall of the canal, while its stern appeared to be lodged against the west wall and an image posted on Instagram by a user on another cargo ship showed that the ship was stuck in the channel.
A navigation monitoring website showed the struggling ship surrounded by smaller tugs trying to dislodge it from the banks.
Officials said the channel “will spare no effort” to ensure that global commercial traffic can continue. The block, however, is likely to cause delays in shipments. According to a oil export tracker, “Tankers transporting oil from Saudi, Russian, Oman and the USA are waiting at both ends”.
An alternative route for Asia-Europe container trade flows would take an additional week, Tan Hua Joo, a consultant at Liner Research, told Reuters.
Nearly 19,000 ships with a net tonnage of 1.17 billion tonnes passed through the canal last year, according to the Suez Canal Authority.
No US Navy vessel was affected by the closure, a spokesman for the 5th fleet told NBC News.
Traffic jams are rare on the Suez Canal. In 2017, a Japanese container ship blocked the channel, but Egyptian authorities floated the ship again in a few hours.
Suez is still remembered for being at the center of an international crisis in 1956, after Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nassar nationalized the channel, which was previously British and French property. The change led to a failed invasion and humiliation for the powers of Western Europe.
Charlene Gubash and Reuters contributed.