Turkey offers help to dislodge giant vessel blocking Suez Canal

(MENAFN - Trend News Agency) Turkey said it is ready to deploy vessels to help free the giant container ship that has been stuck sideways in Egypt's Suez Canal since Tuesday, blocking a crucial waterway for global shipping, Trend reports citing Daily Sabah . Efforts have been underway, and tugboats and a specialized suction dredger continued works Friday to dislodge the Ever Given, Panama-flagged ship owned by the Japanese firm Shoei Kisen KK. The 400-meter (1,312-foot) long vessel has suspended traffic of containers transporting goods, parts and equipment through the shortest sea link between Europe and Asia, causing headaches for global trade. Efforts to dislodge it may take weeks amid bad weather, according to salvage experts. Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoglu said the country stood ready to help resolve the blockage in case of need. 'We have conveyed our offer to help to our Egyptian brothers and if a positive response comes from them, our Nene Hatun ship is among the few in the world that can carry out work of this nature,' Karaismailoglu told broadcaster NTV, adding Ankara had not received a response yet but was ready to act. The United States has also offered to join efforts to free the vessel. Suez Canal Authority, which operates the waterway, said it received other offers to assist in the ongoing operation. It did not specify what kind of assistance was offered. Turkey's offer came amid recent messages of improvement in ties with Egypt after years of animosity. Earlier this month, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavushoglu both said Turkey had resumed diplomatic contact with Egypt. Erdogan said the contacts were 'not at the highest level, but right below the highest level. We hope that we can continue this process with Egypt much more strongly.' Ties have been frosty since the Egyptian army toppled the country's first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in a coup in 2013 after only a year in office. The Ever Given ran aground in the narrow canal that runs between Africa and the Sinai Peninsula. It got stuck in a single-lane stretch of the canal, about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) north of the southern entrance, near the city of Suez. Around 10% of world trade flows through the canal, which is particularly crucial for the transport of oil. The closure also could affect oil and gas shipments to Europe from the Middle East. At least 150 ships were waiting for the Ever Given to be cleared, including vessels near Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea, Port Suez on the Red Sea and those already stuck in the canal system on Egypt's Great Bitter Lake, said Leth Agencies, which provides services for the canal.MENAFN27032021000187011040ID1101818216