A giant cargo ship has continued to block the Suez Canal for a third day as at least 150 other vessels idled waiting for the ship to move.
The Ever Given, a Japanese-owned ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe, ran aground on Tuesday.
The skyscraper-sized ship has been blocking the narrow, man-made canal dividing continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula ever since.
Over the past three days, efforts to free the ship using dredgers, digging and the aid of high tides have failed - affecting billions of pounds' worth of cargo.
On Thursday the ship's owner, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., offered a written apology for the incident.
"We are determined to keep on working hard to resolve this situation as soon as possible," the company said.
"We would like to apologise to all parties affected by this incident, including the ships travelling and planning to travel through Suez Canal."
A team from Boskalis, a Dutch firm specialised in salvaging, arrived at the canal on Thursday, though one of the company's top officials warned removing the vessel could take "days to weeks."
"It is, in a manner of speaking, a very heavy whale on the beach," Boskalis chairman Peter Berdowski told the Dutch current affairs program "Nieuwuur" on Wednesday night. "The ship, with the weight it now has, can't really be pulled free. You can forget it."
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the company that manages the Ever Given, said the ship's 25-member crew are safe and accounted for. Shoei Kisen Kaisha said all the crew came from India.
The ship had two pilots from Egypt's canal authority aboard the vessel to guide it when the grounding happened around 7.45 in the morning on Tuesday, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement said.
Canal service provider Leth Agencies said 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.
Cargo ships already behind the Ever Given in the canal will be reversed south back to Port Suez to free the channel, Leth Agencies said. Authorities hope to do the same to the Ever Given when they can free it.
An initial report suggested the ship suffered a power blackout before the incident, something Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement denied Thursday.
"Initial investigations rule out any mechanical or engine failure as a cause of the grounding," the company said.
Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal provides a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo. It also remains one of Egypt's top foreign currency earners.
