The last ships stranded by the grounding of a giant container vessel in the Suez Canal should pass through the waterway on Saturday, according to the canal authority.
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) also said an investigation into the incident would report its findings soon.
Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, said in comments published by state news agency WAM that 85 ships were expected to pass the canal from both sides on Saturday.
They will include the last 61 ships out of the 422 that were queuing when the Ever Given container vessel was dislodged on Monday, ending the backlog of shipping that built up during the crisis, he added.
International supply chains were thrown into disarray when the 40-metre long Ever Given ran aground in the vital trade artery on March 23.
Specialist rescue teams took almost a week to free the vessel after extensive dredging and repeated tugging operations.
An SCA investigation began on Wednesday into what caused the vessel to run aground in the Suez Canal and block the waterway for six days, Rabie told the MBC Masr TV channel.
“The investigation is going well and will take two more days, then we will announce the results,” he added.
The canal is a crucial route, mainly used to transport Middle Eastern crude to Europe and the US, as well as shipping fuel oil from the west to the east.
About 12 percent of global trade, around one million barrels of oil and roughly 8 percent of liquefied natural gas pass through the canal each day.
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