Dredgers try to free ship in Suez, scene of past international drama

BEIRUT – With the global supply chain in jeopardy, powerful tugboats and dredgers worked desperately Friday to free the giant cargo ship blocking the Suez Canal in a race against mounting economic losses.

Hundreds of ships have been left waiting in the open sea, tens of billions of dollars' worth of goods lay undelivered and companies the world over are grappling with the possibility of a protracted closure of a waterway through which one-tenth of global shipping passes. There were reports Friday that some companies were already diverting ships away from the Egyptian canal, but they faced a much longer journey around