Additional help in the form of tugboats have been deployed to assist a megaship stuck in the Suez Canal.

The 400-metre-long Japanese-owned MV Ever Given has been stuck for the past three days.

Previous efforts to free the vessel have failed, with canal authorities suggesting that it could take up to two weeks to rectify the situation.

Technical experts say approximately 20,000 cubic metres of sand must be removed in order to free the bow of the ship.

According to the White House, the US is prepared to send a team of dredging experts to the canal.

“We have equipment and capacity that most countries don’t have. And we are seeing what help we can be,” said  US President Joe Biden

The situation in the Suez Canal has resulted in shipping rates doubling since the ship became stranded, with the blockage expected to cost global trade US$6bn- US$10bn a week.

Ordinarily , an estimated US$10 billion worth of goods would pass through the waterway, which connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, each day.