A failure in the machines of a tanker stopped traffic today Suez Canaland left several commercial ships stopped in the important seaway, in the fifth incident of this type so far this year, official sources reported.
The president of the Canal Management Authority, Lieutenant General Osama Rabie, minimized the importance of the incident of the “Seavigour”, flying the Maltese flag, which suffered a mechanical failure and left several ships unable to cross the seaway, stating that “everything Is under control”.
“We have immediately deployed three tugs to move the vessel” and allow ships held up behind it to pass, Rabie said, according to a statement from the managing authority.
The “Seavigour”, which was part of the northern convoy and came from Russia bound for China“it will move in less than an hour and will reach kilometer 17, so the boats behind it can move (…) currently there are no difficulties (…) everything is under control,” added Rabie, quoted by the state chain Cairo News.
The tanker incident is the fifth of its kind since the beginning of the year, coming some ten days after the Hong Kong-flagged container ship “XIN HAI TONG 23” ran aground, causing traffic to be suspended for several hours in the suez canal.
Although not all of them interrupted traffic on the canal, these incidents recalled the crisis experienced between March 23 and 29, 2021, when the container ship “Ever Given” blocked the sea passage with its 400-meter length and 18,000 containers. on board, something that caused a huge traffic jam along this route, through which around 10% of the world’s merchandise passes.
The road is one of the main sources of income from egypt and, in 2022, it registered almost RD$8,000 million.