Cape detour Among the ships heading towards South Africa is the "mega ship" Ever Greet, which is operated by the same Taiwan-based company (Evergreen) as the Ever Given. On Friday morning, the international vessel tracking platform FleetMon reported that another ultra-large container ship, the HMM Rotterdam, was on her way from China to the Netherlands, but made a U-turn around Gibraltar to head away from the Suez towards the Cape. The Hyundai Prestige has also changed course away from the Suez Canal to the Cape, on her way from Thailand to the UK, the shipping platform Marine Traffic reported. A Transnet spokesperson told Business Insider that the detours could result in some vessels using local ports for refuelling services. But there are doubts whether Cape Town harbour in particular will be in a position to benefit from increased traffic. It has been beset with delays in processing ships and freight since last year and strong winds have also disrupted traffic to the harbour. Accordingly, a number of large container ships and shipping lines have reportedly bypassed Cape Town in recent months. "The combination of inclement weather over extended periods and availability of equipment has placed pressure on the entire system, resulting in recent backlogs," Transnet told Business Insider. "However, engagements with industry have been ongoing with integrated planning yielding positive results. Currently, seven cranes are in full operation supported by seven gangs (teams)." Progress with stuck vessel Meanwhile, workers have made "significant progress" and managed to release the Ever Givens ship's rudder from the sediment, a spokesperson for Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the technical manager of the ship, told Business Insider in a statement. But the port side of the ship's bow remains stuck in the sand and mud, noting that 11 tugboats were working throughout Saturday alongside dredging operations to clear the sediment. The head of the Suez Canal Authority confirmed to reporters Saturday that "the ship's stern began to move towards Suez" on Friday night, but said workers stopped their efforts when the tide fell. "We expect that at any time the ship could slide and move from the spot it is in," Suez Canal Authority Chairman Osama Rabie said at a press conference. m* SC MAERSK World's biggest shipping giants send vessels towards SA amid Suez blockage The world's biggest shipping container companies have redirected their vessels to the route around South Africa as the Suez Canal remains blocked. On Saturday, The Guardian reported that the world's biggest shipping group Maersk has rerouted two of its ships, and in a statement issued late on Friday, the second-biggest company Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) announced that eleven of its vessels have been rerouted around the coast of South Africa. The Ever Given ran aground in the Suez canal on March 23 due to high winds from a sandstorm. The vessel is one of the world's largest container ships - it's roughly twice the length of the iconic Ponte apartment tower in Johannesburg. "MSC expects this incident to have a very significant impact on the movement of containerized goods, disrupting supply chains beyond the existing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic," MSC said in a statement. More than 90 vessels pass through the canal on a typical day, and with queues building, some of the world's largest ships have changed course away from the Suez, and towards the Cape of Good Hope instead. This includes large oil and gas tankers that have also changed course in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean before diverting to go around the Cape, CNBC reported. "We are seeing not only containerships rerouting in both directions but also LNG carriers and dry bulkers from the US Gulf of Mexico," Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at BIMCO, told CNBC. "The vessels are taking a sharp turn to the right in the middle of the Atlantic to head south towards the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the logjam around Suez."