A huge container ship accidentally blocked the Suez Canal, one of the world's most important shipping lanes

• Ever Given, one of the largest cargo ships in the Suez Canal, has run aground.
• The ship has caused a massive logjam in one of the world's most important trade routes.
• Pictures and maps below show the state of the bottleneck.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

One of the most important shipping routes in the world, the Suez Canal, has been blocked by a massive container ship.

Ever Given, a nearly 200-foot-wide, 1,300-foot-long cargo ship sailing under a Panamanian flag, caused a transcontinental logjam in the Egyptian waterway, which directly connects Europe to Asia.

Here is what the stranded ship looks like, as seen in an Instagram post by a crew member on the vessel behind:

The ship ran aground at about 7:40 a.m. local time on Tuesday, according to a statement from Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the ship's technical manager, seen by Reuters.

The ship was still stuck some 24 hours later on Wednesday morning. Tugboats and excavation equipment were working to free the ship, officials said.

Part of the vessel appeared to embed itself in the bank of the canal, according to images shared on Twitter by the shipping analyst John Scott-Railton, an analyst based at the University of Toronto:

-John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) March 24, 2021

A statement posted Wednesday from the Ever Given's shipping company, GAC Egypt, said that wind conditions were complicating efforts to free the vessel. "So far, no progress has been made," it said.

The ship is headed for Rotterdam, Netherlands, from the Yantian District of China, according to the ship-tracking site Vessel Finder.

The ship had traveled through Taipei and Malaysia and hoped to arrive in the Netherlands on March 31. Instead, it ended up perpendicular to the canal, blocking hundreds of cargo ships from both sides.

The Suez Canal was constructed in 1869 to connect the Mediterranean and Red Seas.

It allows for the shortest possible trade route by water between Europe and Asia. In 2015, the Egyptian government finished an $8 billion renovation of the canal to attract more business and allow for smoother sailing.

Imagery on Vessel Finder shows Ever Given's slow progress in getting unstuck:

A zoomed-in shot in the tweet below shows the tiny excavator used earlier to try to unwedge the ship.

-John Scott-Railton (@jsrailton) March 23, 2021