A renewed effort to free the cargo ship stuck in the Suez Canal took place on Saturday night, as the queue of waiting vessels rose to 321.
More than a dozen tugs joined the operation to refloat the Ever Given to coincide with high tide at around 10pm local time.
It came after rescuers said they had “some positive results”, with as much as 17m of movement on Friday.
Meanwhile, Suez Canal authorities have conceded that technical or human error could have contributed to the mega-ship becoming stuck.
It also emerged that IKEA is among the hundreds of companies whose cargo is being held up by the Suez Canal blockage.
The incident could “create constraints in our supply chain”, the Swedish furniture company told CNN.
More than 100 IKEA containers are reportedly queuing behind the MV Ever Given on the waterway and in surrounding areas.
Read more:
- Suez Canal: Livestock ships caught in logjam are ‘biohazard timebomb’, charity warns
- Suez Canal blocked: A brief history of the Egyptian trade route and the Ever Given stranded in its waters
- Global shipping: The world’s most opaque industry
The salvage firm involved in the refloating operation said that they hoped the arrival of larger tugs this weekend could help shift the vessel early next week. Other options, such as using a crane to remove some of the ship’s cargo, are also being considered.
