Over 200 ships held up near Suez as efforts to refloat Ever Given continue

Cairo, Mar 26 (efe-epa).- More than 230 ships have been held up by the mega container Ever Given, which ran aground in the Suez Canal on Tuesday.

Logistics company Leth Agencies said Friday that 237 vessels were waiting in the Suez Canal area, which links the Red Sea with the Mediterranean.

The Suez Canal Authority on Thursday suspended all navigation through the waterway while efforts to refloat the 400-meter (1,312-foot) vessel continued.

The Panama-flagged mega container, owned by Japanese company Shoei Kisen and operated by Taiwan-based Evergreen Maritime, ran aground after it was blown off course amid strong winds and low visibility during a dust storm on Tuesday as she made her way north up the waterway en route from China to the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

The Suez Canal Authority said officials from the United States had extended an offer to help in the efforts to refloat the container ship.

Shoei Kisen and Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, a maritime multinational, are cooperating with local authorities to help dislodge the Ever Given.

Last year a total of 18,829 ships passed through the Suez with a total net tonnage of 1.17 billion tons, bringing in a revenue of $5.61 billion.EFE-EPA

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