Ever Given container ship starts to move in Suez Canal

The massive container ship which has been blocking the Suez Canal for almost a week started to move on Monday, according to maritime traffic tracking sites, raising hopes the vital global trade route could soon be clear.

The Panama-flagged MV 'Ever Given' (operated by Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine) container ship as it begins to move.

The partial freeing of the vessel came after intensive efforts to push and pull the vessel with 10 tugboats when the full moon brought spring tide, Leth Agencies said, raising the canal's water level and hopes for a breakthrough.

A canal official, who requested anonymity, said that the team on the ground had started technical checks, and were reassured that the ship's motor was working.

A view shows the 'partially refloated' container ship Ever Given.

Egypt's Suez Canal Authority said Monday the Ever Given container ship, which has been blocking the crucial waterway for nearly a week, has been turned in the "right direction". "The position of the ship has been reorientated 80 percent in the right direction. The stern... moved to 102 metres (335 feet) from the shore," compared to its position four metres from the shore previously, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chief Osama Rabie in a statement.

A view shows the 'partially refloated container ship Ever Given

Two additional tugboats sped Sunday to Egypt's Suez Canal to aid efforts to free the skyscraper-sized container ship wedged for days across the crucial waterway, even as major shippers increasingly divert their boats out of fear the vessel may take even longer to free.

The MV Ever Given, longer than four football fields, has been wedged diagonally across the canal since Tuesday, strangling world supply chains and costing the global economy billions.

The obstruction has held up $9 billion each day in global trade and strained supply chains already burdened by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Suez Canal salvage teams had intensified excavation and dredging on Sunday and were hoping a high tide would help them dislodge the ship.

Tug boats and dredgers work to free the Panama-flagged, Japanese-owned Ever Given, which is lodged across the Suez Canal.

Tug boats work to free the Panama-flagged, Japanese-owned Ever Given.