THE BIG STUCK BOAT WILL BE FREE SOON-HOPEFULLY: Slowly, steadily it seems to be happening. MS Ever Given, the mammoth container ship stuck in the Suez Canal, has been partly refloated. However, salvagers will continue with the job of fully floating the mega boat to clear the traffic jam of 450 ocean-going vessels that has had such a dramatic impact on global trade for the past few days. But a word of caution: Getting the back end of the vessel afloat is the easy bit. MS Ever Given is still stuck, and the hugely important shipping route is still blocked. Unable to wait anymore, some of the ships caught up in Suez have opted for the long and expensive trip around the Cape of Good Hope. It is remarkable commentary on the scale of globalisation that one relatively small mishap can hold up 12 per cent of international trade. [COMMENT BY: Omar Shariff, International Editor]
AFP