Ever Given | Suez Canal Turkey ready to help tow giant cargo ship stranded in Suez Canal for 3 days - Minister
Ankara/Sputnik: Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoglu on Friday expressed Ankara's readiness to provide assistance in an operation to refloat the giant container ship Ever Given grounded in the Suez Canal for three days to unblock one of the world's busiest trade routes.
Earlier in the day, Gulf Agency Company (GAC), the leading shipping and logistics company operating the canal, said that no confirmed progress was reported, as efforts to move the grounded vessel were still underway. The operation involves dredgers and more than eight powerful tugboats assisted by other local authorities.
"We are ready to assist in the incident in the Suez Canal if needed. We have the Nene Hatun [rescue] vessel, which is one of the few in the world capable of performing such large operations," Karaismailoglu said, as cited by the Anadolu news agency.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, in turn, expressed hope that the incident would be soon resolved and traffic would be resumed.
"China, of course, hopes that the Suez Canal incident can be resolved appropriately as soon as possible," the spokeswoman said, noting that it is not a diplomatic issue.
The 224,000-tonne Ever Given got stranded on Tuesday morning while on the way from China to the Dutch port city of Rotterdam after losing the ability to steer due to strong winds and a dust storm. The incident completely blocked the traffic along the waterway delaying at least 100 ships carrying different products from oil to consumer goods, as they were forced to re-route or wait for their turn to enter the canal.
On Wednesday, the ship was partially refloated and placed alongside the Canal bank, according to the GAC.
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