Rescuers have warned that the Suez Canal could remain blocked by a grounded giant container ship for “weeks”, raising fears of significant disruption to global trade.
As dredgers arrived on Thursday to help dig out the 220,000-tonne Ever Given after it became wedged across the canal during a sandstorm on Tuesday, Boskalis, a salvage company involved in the rescue, likened the operation to trying to free a beached whale.
“The more secure the ship is, the longer an operation will take,” Boskalis chief executive Peter Berdowski told the Netherlands’ Nieuwsuur television programme. “It can take days to weeks. Bringing in all the equipment we need, that’s not around the corner.”