The stranded Ever Given mega-container ship in the Suez Canal is holding up an estimated $9.6bn (£7bn) of goods each day, according to shipping data. This works out at $400m an hour in trade along the waterway which is a vital passageway between east and west.
Data from shipping expert Lloyd's List values the canal's westbound traffic at roughly $5.1bn a day, and eastbound daily traffic at around $4.5bn. Despite efforts to free the ship, it could take weeks to remove experts say.
The Ever Given, operated by the Taiwanese company Evergreen Marine, is the length of four football pitches and one of the world's biggest container vessels. The 200,000-tonne ship is capable of carrying 20,000 containers. Its blockage is causing huge tailbacks of other ships trying to pass through the Suez Canal.
The canal, which separates Africa from the Middle East and Asia, is one of the busiest trade routes in the world, with about 12% of total global trade moving through it. According to Lloyd's List tracking data there are more than 160 vessels waiting at either end of the canal. These include 41 bulk carriers and 24 crude tankers.
Along with oil, the sea traffic is largely consumer products such as clothing, furniture, manufacturing components and car parts.
Guy Platten, the secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping, said: "We're hearing reports now that shipping companies are starting to divert their ships around the southern tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, which adds about 3,500 miles to the journey and up to 12 days." He said the ship appeared to be hard fast aground, adding that freeing the vessel from the bank was taking much longer and was more complicated than had been initially expected.
The Ever Given had been scheduled to arrive in the port of Felixstowe in early April.
Container ships have nearly doubled in size in the past decade as global trade expands, making the job of moving them much harder when they get stuck. Egypt's Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said it was doing all it could to re-float the ship with tug boats, dredgers canal, and I ask for patience from stakeholders across the supply chain as everyone and heavy earth-moving equipment.
Kitack Lim, secretary general of the International Maritime Organisation, said: "I am aware of the implications of the temporary closure of the works to ensure that the ship, its crew, its cargo and the environment remain protected."