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TIMELINE
CHAOS ON THE SUEZ CANAL
The week the Suez Canal was blocked will have ramifications for months to come . We chart the seven days 10 % of global trade trickled to a stop
MARCH 23 rd - 29 th
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Suez Canal blocked by the Ever Given
First rescue attempts fail
Navigation of the channel suspended
At day break in Egypt , one of the world ’ s biggest container ships veers off course and becomes wedged diagonally across the Suez Canal . The Ever Given , a 400 metre , 20,000 TEU vessel , blocks transit and leaves dozens of ships stranded at either end of the canal .
Initial efforts to refloat the Ever Given fail . Tug boats and dredgers try to dig the ship out of the mud and nudge it away from the bank , but make little progress . By this time , more than 100 vessels are piling up , waiting for news .
The Suez Canal Authority ( SCA ) officially suspends navigation of the manmade strait “ until the floatation works of the large Panamanian container vessel are complete .” The backlog grows by a further 50 ships .
14 April 2021