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Cairo (dpa) - After the end of the blockade in the Suez Canal, those responsible are trying to resolve one of the largest shipping congestion in recent years as quickly as possible.
More than 160 ships have crossed the waterway since traffic was opened on Monday, said the canal service provider Leth Agencies.
About 290 were still waiting at the northern and southern ends of the canal.
These include, above all, bulk carriers, container ships and oil tankers.
In addition, more than 40 additional ships were expected to arrive on Wednesday.
The head of the canal authority, Usama Rabi, had announced that the traffic jam would be resolved by the end of the current week.
Affected companies assume that the blockade will have significantly longer consequences for retailers.
The incident will cause "wave-like effects on global supply chains for weeks," said the Danish shipping company Maersk.
Export and import companies as well as ship operators now have to secure berths in ports as quickly as possible and get their freight to its destination.
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According to estimates by the animal welfare organization Animals International, around 200,000 animals that could die because of the blockade are also affected, 130,000 of them from Romania.
On board the 16 ships on the Suez Canal that transport cattle from the EU to the Persian Gulf, feed and water were running out, reported the news site “EU Observer”, citing the organization.
The extent of the economic damage - possibly in the billions - cannot yet be foreseen.
Today billions of people depend on individual steps in the supply chain, wrote Elisabeth Braw from the American Enterprise Institute in the magazine Foreign Policy - “from oranges to machines to dock workers and complex software that organizes every step”.
The many weak points and risks would be ignored.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210331-99-42273 / 2
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Tweet Leth Agencies
Communication from Maersk
Braw in "Foreign Policy"
Report in the "EU Observer"