Suez Canal: Efforts to free ship continue as preparations are made to remove cargo

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A giant cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal, one of the world's busiest waterways, remains stuck after authorities tried and failed to make use of high water levels on Saturday.

Despite that, canal officials have said that some progress has been made amid efforts to reopen the crucial trade route. On Saturday 14 tugboats managed to move the ship "30 degrees from left and right."

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chief, Osama Rabie, said on Sunday that although the vessel was still stuck there were "positive indicators" from the past two days' efforts.

"The rudder was not moving and it is now moving, the propeller is working now, there was no water underneath the bow, and now there is water under it, and yesterday there was a 4m (13ft) deviation in the bow and the stern," Rabie said.

So far, dredgers have been able to shift 27,000 cubic metres of sand – this is equal to a depth of 18 meters or approximately 60ft.

However, alternative options are being geared up to help move the rescue mission along.

Egypt's president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered preparations to lighten the load of the stranded ship on Sunday. He said that rescue teams should get ready for the possible removal of the 18,300 containers on board the vessel.

The Ever Given weighs 200,000-tonne and is capable of carrying 20,000 shipping containers.

Officials have also debunked earlier reports that claimed wind gusts were behind the stranding. Rabie said on Saturday that "strong winds and weather factors were not the main reasons for the ship’s grounding, there may have been technical or human errors."

Global supply chains have been crippled since Tuesday, after the 400-metre Panama-flagged Ever Given ship got stuck sideways in the Suez. This has meant that more than 300 vessels have been tailing back from the Suez.

It comes after the Japanese owners of the vessel blocking the Suez Canal said that an attempt will be made to refloat the vessel by taking advantage of tidal movements, which could see the ship dislodged soon.

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