Shipping is on the move again in Egypt's Suez Canal after tugs refloated a giant container ship which had been blocking the channel for almost a week, causing a huge build-up of vessels around the waterway.
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With the 400-metre-long Ever Given dislodged, 113 ships were expected to transit the canal in both directions by early Tuesday morning, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chairman Osama Rabie told reporters.
He said a backlog of 422 ships could be cleared in 3 -1/2 days.
The Ever Given had become jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal, the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia, in high winds early on March 23.
Evergreen Line, which is leasing the Ever Given, said the ship would be inspected for seaworthiness in the Great Bitter Lake, which separates two sections of the canal.
"The ship was ready for limited navigation after an initial inspection and not a single container was damaged, but a second investigation will be more precise and if it was affected it will show," Rabie said.
At dawn on Monday, rescue workers from the SCA working with a team from Dutch firm Smit Salvage partially refloated the ship and straightened it in the canal.
After several hours it shifted briefly back across the canal before being manoeuvred free by tugs as the tide changed.
The company said approximately 30,000 cubic metres of sand had been dredged to refloat the 224,000-tonne container ship, with 11 tugs and two powerful sea tugs used to pull it free.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), the technical managers of the container ship, said there were no reports of pollution or cargo damage.
Vessels waiting to transit the canal include dozens of container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) vessels, Nile TV reported.
Rabie said that within four days, traffic would return to normal.
Vessels similar in size to the Ever Given, which is one of the world's largest container ships, could pass through the canal safely, he added, and the SCA would not change its policy on admitting such ships.
Shipping group Maersk said the knock-on disruptions to global shipping could take weeks or months to unravel.
Owners and charterers of delayed ships face at least $US24 million ($A31 million) in expenses they will be unable to recoup as their insurance policies do not cover them and cargo owners could also face uninsured losses, industry sources said.
About 15 per cent of world shipping traffic transits the Suez Canal, which is an important source of foreign currency revenue for Egypt.
The stoppage was costing the canal up to $US15 million ($A20 million) a day.
Australian Associated Press
