Traffic once again flowing through Suez Canal

SUEZ CANAL, Egypt (NBC) – Traffic has resumed in the Suez Canal after a stranded container ship blocking it for nearly a week was finally freed by salvage crews.

The Suez Canal is open once again and all Tuesday morning there has been a triumphant parade of giant container ships, of oil tankers streaming past.

Egyptian officials are taking something of a victory lap.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt gave a triumphant speech.

Some people have questioned whether the Suez Canal, a narrow waterway roughly the width of two football fields built in the 1850s, should continue to take ships as big as the ever given.

Egyptian officials say not only will they continue to take ships of that size, they will take even larger ships in the future.

The focus now is on clearing the backlog caused by this weeklong blockage.

Some 400 ships caught in this international traffic jam waiting for their chance to finally go through the Suez Canal.

Egyptian officials say it’s probably going to take until the weekend to get through that.

Some $70 billion worth of goods estimated to have been delayed and there may be knock-on effects at ports in Western Europe and, to a lesser extent, in the United States.