- The giant container ship that was blocking the
Suez Canal for nearly a week finally made it through. - Salvage teams worked on land and water for six days and nights, and were assisted by the moon and tide.
- The ship is one of the largest in the world - as long as the Empire State building is tall. It weighs 224,000 tons.
The giant container ship that was blocking the Suez Canal for nearly a week finally made it through and shipping traffic started up again.
The moon and high tide helped workers more than any machine. Salvage teams used 11 tugs and two powerful sea tugs to pull it out, working on land and water for six days and nights. They cleared out more than 1 million cubic feet of sand to refloat the
The ship is one of the largest in the world - as long as the Empire State building is tall. It weighs 224,000 tons.
Now that it's free, more than 350 vessels are waiting to pass through the canal. The ships are carrying everything from furniture and treadmills to cars, oil and animals.
Experts say it will take three days to clear this backlog, but global shipping could be disrupted for months, in a supply chain already strained by the pandemic.
Around 15% of global trade passes through the Suez Canal, and the blockage was costing it up to $15 million a day.
The ship has now been towed to a lake outside of the Suez for technical inspection.