321 ships at the entrance to the Suez Canal waiting for the stranded ship to float

The head of the Suez Canal Authority, Osama Rabie, revealed that a new process had begun to float the ship stuck in the canal for days, most likely the cause of its delinquency, a technical or human error, while Cairo expressed its thanks for the offers of international assistance.

Rabie said – in a press conference today, Saturday – that more than 321 ships were waiting at the entrances to the Suez Canal, and he confirmed that the excavation work under the stranded ship had ended, and that a new floatation process for the stranded ship began today using giant tugging locomotives, in cooperation with international companies specialized in maritime rescue work.
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He reported that 14 locomotives have been making efforts since Friday to float the delinquent ship.
He pointed out tha.t the land of the corridor is difficult to contain, as it contains solid rocks, in addition to the severe tides witnessed by the canal.

Reuters quoted 3 informed sources as saying that if the attempt did not succeed today, there will be another attempt tomorrow morning, Sunday, and the sources said that it will be necessary to remove more sand surrounding the ship in order to re-float.

Regarding the causes of the ship’s stranding, the head of the Suez Canal Authority ruled out that wind speed is the main reason for the ship’s delinquency. It is likely that there was a technical or human error that caused the ship’s delinquency, indicating that this would appear in the investigations.

The Egyptian official confirmed that no injuries were recorded in the delinquency incident or pollution in the water of the corridor.

The British newspaper The Times indicated that the removal of the giant cargo ship that caused the closure of the Suez Canal could take weeks, leading to a crisis in international shipping and a possible shortage of basic commodities and fuel, according to experts.

The container ship “Evergiven” drifted last Tuesday morning in the southern side of the canal near the city of Suez. The vessel, which was on a voyage from China to Rotterdam, is 400 meters long, 59 meters wide, and its total cargo is 224,000 tons.