Tanker broke down in Suez Canal, traffic not disrupted

George Safwat, a spokesman for Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority, said the Bahamas-flagged Grace Emilia suffered a failure in its hull and tugboats pulled it to the side of the canal so other ships could pass.

He told The Associated Press that the northbound tanker stopped working on the southern side of the canal, where a two-lane waterway enables ships to transit.

Canal service provider Leith Agencies reported the incident in a Twitter post, saying ships “can pass in both directions.”

The spokesman, Safawat, said 68 ships transited the canal on Wednesday. He said canal tugs were towing the Grace Emilia to Little Bitter Lake to repair the fault.

Built in 2021, the Grace Emilia is 297 meters (975 ft) long and 46 meters (151 ft) wide. Its cargo tank capacity is 174,000 cubic metres.

According to VesselFinder, a vessel tracking service provider, Grace Emilia runs between the port of Dabhol in India and Cove Point in Maryland.

Last month, a cargo ship carrying maize got stuck in the canal before traffic was allowed to resume.

In March 2021, the Panama-flagged Ever Given, a huge container ship, crashed into a bank on a single-lane section of the canal, blocking the waterway for six days.

Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal provides an important link for oil, natural gas and cargo. about 10% world Trade Flows through the canal, a major source of foreign exchange for Egypt.

The Suez Canal Authority said 23,851 ships passed through the waterway last year, compared to 20,649 in 2021. The canal’s annual revenue reached $8 billion, the highest in its history.

The text of this story is published from a wire agency feed without any modification.