Explained: Suez Canal blockade is costing world trade in billions every day

Cairo: The report that the massive container ship that blocked the stretch of the Suez Canal is finally re-floating in the right direction is a piece of good news for the global economy as a whole.
That is because the Suez Canal, that connects north Atlantic and northern Indian oceans via the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, handles about 12 per cent of the global trade, around one million barrels of oil and roughly 8 per cent of liquefied natural gas passing its route.
The breakthrough in the rescue attempt came after diggers removed 27,000 cubic meters of sand, going deep into the banks of the canal.
On last Tuesday, Panama-flagged, Japanese-owned ship named Ever Given was stuck in a single-lane stretch of the canal, leading to a logjam of more than 450 ships.
A satellite view of Ever Given ship lodged in the stretch of Suez Canal.
The Economic Loss Lloyd’s list predicted an hourly enormous loss of about $400 million per hour, affecting $9.6 billion worth of trade per day.
Looking at the bigger picture, German insurer Allianz said on Friday its analysis showed the blockage could cost global trade between $6bn to $10bn a week and reduce annual trade growth by 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points.