SUEZ: The head of the Suez Canal Authority said on Saturday that efforts to dislodge a huge container ship blocking the canal had allowed its stern and rudder to move but he could not predict when it would be refloated.

SCA Chairman Osama Rabie said he hoped it would not be necessary to resort to removing containers from the ship to lighten its load, but that strong tides and winds were complicating efforts to free it.