A massive container vessel has gotten stuck in Egypt's Suez Canal, which is barely able to handle the big cargo carrier, causing expected delays in global shipments of commodities, according to reports.
The Panama-flagged container vessel Ever Given got stuck in the southern end of the canal while making a turn Tuesday, according to vessel tracking websites.
On Wednesday, she hip the vessel was still stuck in the canal, which provides the shortest marine route between Europe and Asia, according to data from tracking website VesselFinders.
Several tugboats have been deployed to help shift the container ship. The 400-metre (yards) long and 59-metre wide Ever Given container ship has a carrying capacity of around 199,489 deadweight metric tonnes.
The container ship "has now blocked off a lot of fully-laden tankers from traversing in either direction", trade monitor website TankerTrackers said in a post on Twitter.
"Tankers carrying Saudi, Russian, Omani and U.S. oil are waiting on both ends," it said.
The Suez Canal and the Suez-Mediterranean Pipeline are strategic routes for Persian Gulf crude oil, petroleum products, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments to Europe and North America.
The canal is a critical chokepoint because of the large volumes of energy commodities that flow through it, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Ever Given, which is operated by Taiwan-based container transportation and shipping firm Evergreen Marine, is carrying containers bound for Rotterdam in the Netherlands from China.
