CAIRO (AP) — A tanker transporting crude oil broke down in a single-lane a part of Egypt’s Suez Canal on Sunday, briefly disrupting site visitors within the international waterway, Egyptian authorities mentioned.
The Malta-flagged Seavigour suffered a mechanical malfunction on the 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) mark of the canal, mentioned George Safwat, a spokesperson for Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority. The tanker was transiting the canal from the Mediterranean to the Pink Sea
In a cellphone interview with an area tv station, Adm. Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority, mentioned the tanker broke down in a single-lane a part of the waterway, disrupting the transit of eight different vessels behind it.
Hours later, Rabei mentioned in a press release that navigation on the canal had returned to regular after three tugboats towed the tanker to a double-lane half on the 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) mark. He mentioned that the Seavigour ‘s crew was engaged on repairing the malfunction however didn’t share additional particulars.
The Seavigour was inbuilt 2016, and is 274 meters (899 ft) lengthy and 48.63 meters (159 ft) extensive, in response to MarineTraffic, a vessel monitoring service supplier
Sunday’s incident was the newest case of a vessel reported caught within the very important waterway. A flurry of ships ran aground or broke down within the Suez Canal over the previous few years.
On Could 25, a Hong Kong-flagged ship briefly blocked the canal. On March 5, a Liberia-flagged ship ran aground within the two-lane a part of the waterway. Each vessels had been refloated hours later.
In March 2021, the Panama-flagged Ever Given, a colossal container ship, crashed into a bank on a single-lane stretch of the canal, blocking the waterway for six days and disrupting international commerce.
The canal, which opened in 1869, supplies an important hyperlink for oil, pure gasoline and cargo. About 10% of world commerce flows by the canal, a serious supply of international forex for the Egyptian authorities.
In line with the Suez Canal Authority, final yr, 23,851 vessels handed by the waterway, in comparison with 20,649 vessels in 2021. The income from the canal in 2022 reached $8 billion, the best in its historical past.