The price of crude oil rose by $1.75, or 2.9%, to $62.54 a barrel, on Wednesday, as Egypt continued efforts to free a giant container vessel trapped on the Suez Canal's parallel channel. The Ever Given vessel, owned by Taiwanese marine company Evergreen, ran aground in the Suez Canal, on Tuesday, halting marine traffic in one of the world's busiest shipping routes. The cause of the incident remains unclear for now, although recent bad weather in Egypt has been highlighted as the suspected cause. Admiral Osama Rabie, Chairperson of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), said that that the older section of the canal was opened to ease the flow of traffic, which occurred due to the incident. The SCA said that it has also deployed tug boats to help shift the trapped large container ship. "The ability to guide the vessel as it travelled through the new channel was lost as a result of the turbulent weather the country experienced yesterday, which led to the incident," the SCA added. The Ever Given, a Taiwan-owned container registered in Panama, was bound for the port city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands from China, and was passing northwards through the canal on its way to the Mediterranean Sea. However, Reuters cited a shipping source and witness as saying that "the first ship from a convoy that had been blocked by a stranded vessel in the Suez Canal is on the move, indicating a resumption of traffic in the waterway". Reuters added that the Ever Given "had been partially refloated and moved alongside the canal bank." However, Egypt's shipping authorities have not confirmed the news.
