Suez Canal crisis from space: see shipping backlog in satellite images

Over 300 ships are now backed up behind the stuck 'Ever Given' container ship

The 'Ever Given' container ship blocked the Suez Canal for six days. Reuters

The ship became grounded during high winds. Airbus Space

The incident cost the Suez Canal Authority up to $15 million in revenue. Airbus Space

Left, the canal on March 21; right, traffic waits to enter the canal on March 25. Reuters

Vessels wait to pass through the canal after the 'Ever Given' ran aground. Airbus Space

The incident caused a queue of vessels at the mouth of the canal. Airbus Space

It took six days to free the 'Ever Given'. Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation

An image captured by the European Space Agency Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite shows the canal during the blockage. Reuters

The 200,000-tonne cargo ship caused damage to the vital waterway. Reuters

Egypt initially claimed $900m in compensation over the incident. Reuters

An image captured from a commercial plane shows traffic waiting to travel through the canal. AFP

The 'Ever Given' will be released by the Egyptian authorities on Wednesday. AFP

The 'Ever given' was stuck for six days and caused damage to the canal. AFP

The blockage cost the canal authority millions of dollars because cargo ships were unable to pass. AFP

Egypt's Suez Canal Authority on Saturday evening said that 321 ships are now waiting to pass through the vital trade route, which was blocked on Tuesday by a massive container ship wedged diagonally across the waterway.

The blockage has halted upward of $400m of trade an hour as international salvage crews and US military experts join the effort to refloat the Ever Given, a 400-metre long, 200,000-tonne vessel that became stuck shortly after entering the canal.

New video shot by a satellite shows tugboats trying to free the giant cargo ship.

"The Suez canal traffic jam is visible from space," Airbus Space, a space technology company, said on Twitter, after posting satellite imagery.

Tugs managed to shift the stricken vessel 29 meters on Saturday and dredgers succeeded earlier in freeing the propellers from the sediment that has glued the vessel to the canal's banks.

Satellite images shows the Gulf of Suez on March 21, left, and the same area with a build-up of waiting ships on March 25. ESA via Reuters.

The video, shot by Planet Labs Inc, captured the work around the Ever Given, including dredgers, tugboats and digging efforts alongside the canal.

The European Space Agency on Friday also released space images of the traffic jam of ships waiting to pass through the Suez.

Two Suez pilots were on the ship at the time it ran aground and officials have blamed strong winds and a sandstorm.

However, Admiral Oussama Rabieh, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, said that technical or human error could have contributed.

“When it comes to big accidents like this one, there is always more than one cause. The investigation could reveal a human error or a technical fault,” he said on Saturday.

No formal investigation into how the accident occurred will begin before the ship is refloated and traffic returns to normal, he said.

At a press conference in Japan on Friday, Yukito Higaki, president of Shoei Kisen, which owns the Ever Given, said there were no signs of damage to its engines and instruments.

Additional reporting by Sarwat Nasir