‘Beached whale’ ship could block Suez Canal for weeks
The Suez Canal is currently blocked by a 400 m container ship, the Ever Given, which has been stuck diagonally across the single-lane southern stretch of the canal since Tuesday morning. This has caused a major disruption to global trade, with 206 large container ships, tankers carrying oil and gas, and bulk vessels hauling grain backed up at either end of the canal. The Suez Canal Authority has temporarily suspended all traffic, and the blockage may take weeks to clear. This could cause a significant delay in the shipment of goods, with some ships having to re-route around Africa, adding roughly a week to the journey. The disruption is expected to have a major impact on container shipping, as well as crude and product oil tankers, with Russia and Saudi Arabia being the top two exporters of oil through the canal, and India and China being the main importers.0
