Suez Canal: Golf course's giant T. rex 'stuck' on Ever Given

A giant Tyrannosaurus rex model has been held up in the Suez canal blockage on its way to a newly opened adventure golf course.

The 10m (32ft) centrepiece for the Kingsway Golf Centre in Melbourn near Cambridge is currently on the Ever Given cargo ship in Egypt.

The vessel has been anchored in the Great Bitter Lake, the canal's midway point, since being refloated on Monday.

James Watts, from the course, said he had "no idea" when it would arrive.

He said the T. rex, named Dino, was commissioned back in September and it was due to arrive in early April, as first reported in the Cambridge Independent.

Dino's pterodactyl friend is also stuck on the 400m-long (1,312ft), 220,000-tonne ship.

The Ever Given became wedged diagonally across the waterway on 23 March after running aground amid high winds and a sandstorm.

It was freed after a major salvage operation involving a flotilla of powerful tug boats and dredging vessels that shifted an estimated 30,000 cubic metres (1.1m cubic ft) of mud and sand.

Ever Given is expected to continue on its voyage and call at Rotterdam before it arrives at the Port of Felixstowe.

Mr Watts said: "We've got an area ready, on the 17th and 18th holes, he (Dino) is the centrepiece to the course."

But "not many people have noticed he's missing" since the course opened on Monday, he added.

When it does arrive, the T. rex will still need to be built.

"He is flat-packed, he'll arrive in three or four components," Mr Watts added.

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