Our economics editor Ben Chu unpicks “the intricate web of registration, ownership and operation responsibilities” within the shipping industry.

My colleagues Joe Sommerland and Eleanor Sly have this helpful write-up on the ship that brought billions of dollars in trade to a standstill:

Experts on Tuesday boarded the Ever Given as the investigation into how it became grounded got underway.

A senior canal pilot, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists, told The Associated Press that experts were looking for signs of damage and trying to determine the cause of the vessel’s grounding.

The ship’s owner had previously said the vessel was blown off course by a gust of win.

At least 367 vessels, carrying everything from crude oil to cattle, are backed up waiting to pass through the canal, service provider Leth Agencies said.

Dozens of others have taken the long, alternate route around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa’s southern tip — a 5,000-kilometer (3,100-mile) detour that costs ships hundreds of thousands of dollars in fuel and other costs.

Global supply chains could be affected for months despite the refloating of the Ever Given vessel and resumption of traffic on the Suez Canal, the world’s largest shipping company has warned.

Danish shipping giant Maersk said the “ripple effects” of the Ever Given’s grounding on the canal for nearly a week has triggered a series of disruptions that could take “weeks, possibly months, to unravel.”

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s rolling coverage of the Suez Canal crisis