Turkey ready to help dislodge ship in Suez Canal, minister says

Turkey’s minister of transport and infrastructure has offered to help Egypt dislodge a ship which has blockaded the Suez Canal, Anadolu Agency reported.

The official stated that Ankara is ready to send its emergency vessel Nene Hatun to help if it is needed.

“Turkish Nene Hatun ship is one of the few ships in the world to carry out such large operations and it is ready to help,” the minister said.

A container ship ran aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal on Tuesday causing a 180 vessel traffic jam.

The 400 metre Ever Given, almost as long as the Empire State Building is high, is blocking transit in both directions through one of the world’s busiest shipping channels for oil and grain and other trade linking Asia and Europe.

Around ten per cent of the world’s trade flows through the Suez Canal.

Turkey has recently made moves to improve relations with Egypt after they were strained in 2013 after then Defence Minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi carried out a bloody military coup in Cairo. Ankara backed the ousted Muslim Brotherhood that had won democractic elections in Egypt.

Ties were further damaged in 2017 when Egypt joined Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain to impose an air, sea and land blockade of Qatar. Turkey supported Doha during the boycott and provided both military and commercial support to the small Gulf state.

READ: Traffic suspended, as ship blocking Suez Canal may take weeks to move