Ship blocks Suez Canal after 'gust of wind' knocks it off course

Map of the Suez Canal locating a huge container ship causing a traffic jam of vessels in both directions since Tuesday.

The Suez Canal is one of the world's most important trade routes, providing passage for 10 percent of all international maritime trade

A giant container ship ran aground in the Suez Canal after a gust of wind blew it off course, the vessel's operator said Wednesday, bringing marine traffic to a halt along one of the world's busiest trade routes.

A photo posted Tuesday showed the Taiwan-owned MV Ever Given, a 400-metre- (1,300-foot-)long and 59-metre wide vessel, lodged sideways and impeding all traffic across the waterway as excavation trucks struggled to dig it out.

"The company has urged the shipowner to report the cause of the incident and has been in discussions with relevant parties  including the canal management authority to assist the ship as soon as possible."

"There was a grounding incident", Alok Roy, fleet director of BSM Hong Kong, the Ever Given ship manager, told the news agency. 

"Ship in front of us ran aground while going through the canal and is now stuck sideways," she wrote. "Looks like we might be here for a little bit."

"Tug boats are currently trying to re-float the vessel," Leth Agencies, which provides crossing services to clients using the canal, said on Twitter.

Nearly 19,000 ships passed through it last year carrying more than one billion tonnes of cargo, according to the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi unveiled plans in 2015 for an expansion designed to reduce waiting times and double the number of ships using the canal daily by 2023.

Egyptian authorities are yet to comment on the tanker incident.

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