Blockade in Egypt's Suez Canal costs an estimated $9bn worth of goods daily

With each passing day, the closed Suez Canal in Egypt is costing an estimated 9 billion dollars’ worth of goods that should be passing through the water way, according to famed shipping journal, Llyod’s List.

The blockade is causing disruption in the flow of cargo traffic in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Every day, 70 ships, carrying a total of 4 million tons of cargo transit through the canal.

It means millions of tons of cargo travelling to various destinations the world over, have now been sitting idle since Tuesday night of March 23.

The Suez Canal in Egypt is a critical waterway, and used by 10 percent of the world’s maritime trade.

A complicated mission has since been underway to free the vessel, known as ‘’Ever Given’’.

The vessel is one of the world’s largest container ships, carrying 20,000 containers, and weighs more than 200, 000 tons.

Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority told the media that, despite the blockade, some cargoes have been able to move south, adding that efforts to remove ‘’Ever Given’’ to free up traffic will continue.

According to shipping experts if the blockade is unlikely to be lifted in the next 24 to 48 hours, some shipping companies could be coerced to divert ships around the southern tip of Africa. This will add about a week to the voyage.