Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure has offered to help Egypt evacuate a ship that has blocked the Suez Canal, reported the Anadolu Agency.
The official stated that Ankara is ready to send its emergency ship Nene Hatun to help if necessary.
“The Turkish ship Nene Hatun is one of the few ships in the world that can carry out operations of this magnitude and is ready to help,” the minister said.
On Tuesday, a container ship ran aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal, causing a traffic jam of 180 ships.
The 400-meter Ever Given, almost as long as the height of the Empire State Building, is blocking traffic in both directions on one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes for oil and grain and other commercial exchanges linking Asia and Europe.
About ten percent of world trade flows through the Suez Canal.
Turkey has recently taken steps to improve relations with Egypt after they were affected in 2013, when then-Defense Minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi staged a bloody coup in Cairo. Ankara supported the overthrown Muslim Brotherhood who had won the democratic elections in Egypt.
Ties were further damaged in 2017, when Egypt joined Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in imposing an air, sea and land blockade on Qatar. Turkey supported Doha during the boycott and provided military and commercial support to the small Gulf State.
READ: Saudi reconciliation could lead Turkey to wrong side of conflict in Yemen
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