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SUEZ, Egypt — Workers have successfully set free a colossal containership that for nearly a week has been stuck sideways across the Suez Canal, one of the world’s most crucial arteries for trade, a canal service provider said.

Dislodging the container vessel blocking the Suez Canal will take until at least March 31, a longer effort than initially feared that will amplify the disruption to global supply chains for everything from oil to grains to cars.

A giant containership remains stuck in the Suez Canal, blocking one of the world’s busiest maritime trade routes that’s vital for the movement of everything from oil to consumer goods.

A global shortage of shipping containers that has sent ocean freight rates skyrocketing shows signs of easing, according to an index that tracks the steel boxes used to transport 90% of the global trade in goods.

A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, the world’s largest container carrier, is working at full capacity and can’t yet see a peak in freight rates that have already been propelled to record highs by pandemic consumer spending.

Container shipping, the backbone of the global trading system, is showing signs of fatigue as the pandemic descends into its darkest days.

A containership owned by A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S was attacked off the West African coast, prompting the company to warn of a rising risk from piracy in the area.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Ports throughout the United States are prepared to accept megaships carrying 18,000 TEUs or more, but while the larger vessels create efficiencies for maritime providers, they take more time to unload and can create bottlenecks for those at the port and the drivers hauling the loads. 

Add oil tankers breaking down at sea to the list of things shipping companies are worrying about as they brace for a once-in-a-generation overhaul to the kind of fuel the industry must consume.

Container ships just keep getting bigger and bigger. Today’s top dog, the OOCL Hong Kong, can carry a mind-boggling 21,413 boxes – far more than the largest ship ever to call on the Port of Hampton Roads.