Efforts to refloat the giant container ship grounded in the Suez Canal were suspended late on Friday and will be resumed Saturday, three canal sources said.The Ever Given tanker blocking the Suez Canal budged for the first time on Friday night after 20,000 tons of dirt were dug out of the site, Army Radio tweeted citing Egyptian sources.
The ship had been blocking the vital shipping route since Tuesday.The latest attempt to dislodge the Ever Given tanker started earlier on Friday after dredging operations to remove 20,000 cubic meters of sand at the tanker’s bow.Should the efforts fail, the US Navy is willing to send help should Cairo seek it, Reuters reported. While the name painted on the side of the tanker is Ever Green its name is Ever Given. As the dramatic blockage of the famous canal took place days before Passover, some Jewish social media figures offered jokes connecting the incident with the biblical story. Joking aside, the Ever Given had causes serious damage as each hour the Suez Canal does not operate costs $400 million.
This means Iranian oil, for example, can not be shipped and basic commodities may not be as plentiful should the route used to deliver them is blocked for much longer.
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