“The position of the ship has been reorientated 80 percent in the right direction,” Rabie said in a statement.

“The stern… moved to 102 metres (335 feet) from the shore,” compared to its position four metres from the bank previously.

A fresh effort to refloat it will start on the next high tide.

The SCA statement said that the refloating process “will resume when water flow increases again from 11:30 am (0930 GMT)… in order to completely refloat the vessel, so as to reposition it in the middle of the waterway.”