Massive container ship becomes lodged in Suez Canal, blocking traffic

(NEXSTAR) – A Netherlands-bound container ship became lodged diagonally in Egypt's Suez Canal, stalling dozens of vessels in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The website Vessel Finder identifies the ship as Ever Given, which is flying under a Panamanian flag from the Yantian district in China to Rotterdam.

The Suez Canal, one of the most important shipping lanes in the world, is reportedly blocked because someone accidentally got stuck with their giant container ship. The photo is unreal. pic.twitter.com/I2ACkBqPi2

— Marcel Dirsus (@marceldirsus) March 23, 2021

Cairo24 reports that a sudden technical failure led to the incident, and sources said it could take at least two days to move the ship.

Ever Given, which was built in 2018 and is nearly 440 yards long, tried and failed to turn around several times, according to London-based newspaper City A.M.

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After all day trying to refloat the mega container ship 'Ever Given', in the Suez Canal, there is a steady log jam of ships waiting in the Mediterranean & Red Sea and in the canal itself pic.twitter.com/aGFKieoWqE

— N South (@nat_ahoy) March 23, 2021

The canal, which links the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, is vital to world trade as the fastest route to ship goods between Europe and Asia.

It is also the source of vast sums of foreign currency for Egypt, which brought in $5.61 billion in 2020, a 3% decline from 2019, according to Reuters.

This is a developing story.