Maritime trade will slow down for days after a giant container ship got stuck sideways in the Suez Canal, causing a bottleneck in one of the world's busiest shipping routes.

Here are questions and answers about the incident and its consequences:

- What happened? -

The Taiwan-run MV Ever Given had sailed from Yantian, China, and was heading to Rotterdam, Netherlands, when it became lodged at an angle across the canal on Tuesday.

The Suez Canal Authority said the 400-metre (1,300-foot) long and 59-metre-wide ship was caught in a gale-force sandstorm which affected the captain's visibility.

Tug boats worked Wednesday to free the Ever Given and analysts say it could be moved out of the way in a matter of hours, but traffic could nevertheless be disrupted for a few days.

Dozens of ships were blocked by the Panama-flagged ship, but historic sections of the canal were reopened in an effort to ease the traffic jam.

Ships sailing from the Mediterranean were able to travel south.

But broker Braemar warned that if the tug boats are unable to move the ship, some containers may have to be removed by crane barge to lighten the vessel and "this can take days maybe weeks".

- Why is the canal important?

The canal was widened and modernised several times to accomodate new ships since it was inaugurated in 1869. It is responsible for 10 percent of global maritime trade.

The waterway drastically shortened travel between Asia and Europe: The Singapore-to-Rotterdam route, for example, is 6,000 kilometres and up to two weeks shorter than going around Africa.

It is an "absolutely critical" route because "all traffic arriving from Asia goes through the Suez Canal," said Camille Egloff, a maritime transport specialist at Boston Consulting Group.

"If it doesn't go through the canal it has to go via Cape of Good Hope", at the southern tip of Africa, Egloff said.

The canal was widened again in 2015 to allow supersized cargo ships like the Ever Given to use the route.

A project is under way to double its capacity by 2023 to allow around 100 ships to use the canal per day, compared to 50 today.

Is there a shortage threat?

While traffic has slowed down, there is little risk of shortages in goods.

"There are existing stocks. If you look at oil supply, it is only the one from the Middle East and we have other supply sources," Egloff said.

Braemer said that, if it takes more than a week to free the passage, then ships could take the alternative route around the Cape of Good Hope, which would add eight to nine days for a voyage between Shanghai and Rotterdam, for example.

The extra days "will be problematic for cargo already on the way" but it "can be compensated for in the longer-term by means of ordering cargo earlier than normal," it said.

But there could be an adverse effect on certain sectors. An existing shortage of semiconductors has already disrupted production of cars that rely on the technology.

And the deputy director general of the Federation of German Industries, Holger Loesch, said the blockage exacerbates an already "tense situation in the international transport of containers".

Egloff said: "There will be domino effects in European ports in the days to come."

Will prices of goods rise?

The effect on prices "is likely to be small and transient, as there are alternative sources and shipping routes for crude and products," said Bjornar Tonhaugen, head of oil market research at Rystad Energy.

"But if the blockage lasts for more than a few days, it could impact prices more and for a longer time," he said.

Oil prices soared on Wednesday as the ship remained stuck in the canal.

Diverting ships to the Cape of Good hope is not likely to change liner pricing significantly as there is strong demand in Asia-Europe trade, according to Braemar.

"We expect freight rates to be maintained at current levels regardless of potential route diversion," it said.

Ship blocks Suez Canal after 'gust of wind' knocks it off course
Cairo (AFP) March 24, 2021 - A giant container ship ran aground in the Suez Canal after a gust of wind blew it off course, the vessel's operator said Wednesday, bringing marine traffic to a halt along one of the world's busiest trade routes.

A photo posted Tuesday showed the Taiwan-owned MV Ever Given, a 400-metre- (1,300-foot-)long and 59-metre wide vessel, lodged sideways and impeding all traffic across the waterway as excavators struggled to free it.

"The container accidentally ran aground after a suspected gust of wind hit it," ship operator Evergreen Marine Corp told AFP.

"The company has urged the shipowner to report the cause of the incident and has been in discussions with relevant parties including the canal management authority to assist the ship as soon as possible."

Bloomberg reported it had caused a build-up of more than 100 ships seeking to transit the canal.

"There was a grounding incident," Alok Roy, fleet director of BSM Hong Kong, the Ever Given ship manager, told the news agency.

The canal, which links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, was opened to navigation in 1869, and was expanded in 2015 to accommodate larger ships.

Shipping monitors MarineTraffic showed a map with large clusters of vessels circling at both ends of the canal, in the Mediterranean north off Port Said, and in the north of the Red Sea.

In the canal itself, the map showed at least six tug boats on either side of the stuck Ever Given.

Instagram user Julianne Cona posted a photo of the grounded ship from the Maersk Denver, now also stuck behind the Ever Given.

- 'Stuck sideways' -

"Ship in front of us ran aground while going through the canal and is now stuck sideways," she wrote. "Looks like we might be here for a little bit."

Shipping website Vessel Finder said the ship was bound for Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and it was unclear why the vessel had stopped moving.

"Tug boats are currently trying to re-float the vessel," Leth Agencies, which provides crossing services to clients using the canal, said on Twitter.

The Suez Canal is one of the world's most important trade routes, providing passage for 10 percent of all international maritime trade.

Nearly 19,000 ships passed through it last year carrying more than one billion tonnes of cargo, according to the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

It has been a boon for Egypt's struggling economy in recent years, with the country earning $5.61 billion in revenues from the canal in 2020.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi unveiled plans in 2015 for an expansion designed to reduce waiting times and double the number of ships using the canal daily by 2023.

In February, Sisi ordered his cabinet to adopt a "flexible marketing policy" for the canal in order to cope with the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Egyptian authorities are yet to comment on the tanker incident.

Container ships account for more than half of the canal's total traffic, with some of them being among the largest in the world reaching a capacity of up to 23,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit).

Most of the cargo travelling from the Gulf to Western Europe is oil.

In the opposite direction, it is mostly manufactured goods and grain from Europe and North America headed to the Far East and Asia.

The journey between ports in the Gulf and London, for example, is roughly halved by going through the Suez -- compared to the alternate route via the southern tip of Africa.

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