CAIRO (Washington Insider Magazine)- The Suez Canal administration reported that an oil tanker went aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal on Wednesday, momentarily halting traffic in the international waterway before being released.
Osama Rabie, the head of the Suez Canal Authority, claimed in a statement that the Singaporean-flagged Affinity V ship had been stuck in a single-lane section of the canal.
In a well-coordinated effort, he claimed, five of the authority’s tug boats were able to get the ship floating once again. According to ABC NEWS, the navigation for other vessels traveling through the canal has resumed regular operations after a technical malfunction in the boat’s steering mechanism forced it to strike the canal’s bank.
According to a Suez Canal Authority spokesperson, the ship ran aground at roughly 7.15 p.m. local time and was sailing again roughly 5 hours later, according to the government-affiliated satellite television channel Extra News.
Geroge Safwat said that the ship was a member of a convoy traveling to the Red Sea from the south. Every day, the Suez Canal is used by two convoys, one headed north into the Mediterranean and the other headed south toward the Red Sea. The artificial waterway that separates the Sinai Peninsula from continental Africa serves as a vital conduit for freight, natural gas, and oil.
The ship, which measures 252 meters (827 feet) in length and 45 meters (148 feet) in breadth, was constructed in 2016. According to the spokesperson, it departed from Portugal and was headed towards the Saudi Arabian port of Yanbu in the Red Sea.
The significant canal has been blocked before, including on Wednesday. The Panama-flagged Ever Given, a massive cargo ship, had collided with a bank of a single-lane section of the canal in March 2021 after being battered by a sandstorm.
The Japanese-owned Ever Given choked the waterway for 6 days before getting released following a significant tugboat salvage operation. In addition to straining supply networks already stretched thin by the coronavirus pandemic, this caused a major traffic bottleneck that halted $9 billion in daily worldwide trade.
Another sizable transport vessel became aground in September 2021, but was quickly freed by officials.
After the incident in March 2021, work to enlarge and deepen the waterway’s southern section where the Ever Given grounded was started by canal authorities.
The canal, which handles 10% of global trade, is a significant source of foreign exchange for Egypt. Authorities reported that 20,649 vessels went through the canal in 2018, an increase of 10% over the 18,830 vessels that sailed through in 2020. The highest annual revenue total in the canal’s history was $6.3 billion in 2021.
