The jam in the Suez canal highlights Egypt’s taste for mega-projects
The money would be better spent on other things
LIKE A HOUSE guest who refuses to leave, the Ever Given is still lingering in the doorway. On March 29th, after six days of blocking a vital trade route, the skyscraper-size ship was set right and sailed north under its own power. As The Economist went to press, though, it had not sailed far. It was floating in the Great Bitter Lake, less than halfway through the Suez canal. Dozens of other vessels sat at anchor nearby and hundreds more at the canal’s entrances. It will take days to clear the jam.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Always going big”
From the March 31st 2021 edition
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