[Scarlett.]

A flotilla of tugboats, as well as dredgers and diggers resumed efforts to move the Ever Given at high tide on Thursday morning, after stopping overnight.

Later, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement said in a statement that an attempt to refloat the vessel at about 08:00 was not successful, and that another attempt would be made in the afternoon.

The management company added that a team of salvage experts from Smit Salvage had been appointed and were attending to the ship.

The CEO of Smit Salvage's parent company, Boskalis, warned that it could take weeks, rather than days, to refloat the ship.

"It is like an enormous beached whale. It's an enormous weight on the sand," Peter Berdowski told the Dutch TV station NPO.

"We might have to work with a combination of reducing the weight by removing containers, oil and water from the ship, tug boats and dredging of sand."

According to BBC News the canal is still blocked