Suez Canal Shut Again After A Ship Got Stucked
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) verified that the Coral Crystal, a Panama-flagged bulk carrier with a cargo of 43,000 tonnes
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On Thursday, a huge ship ran aground in the Suez Canal, shutting the busy commerce route and requiring other ships to use a parallel canal.
The ship got stranded in the Suez Canal's northern part for a short time, but was quickly refloated.
The officials said the incident, that drew analogies to the large container ship Ever Given being trapped in the canal in March, was resolved while traffic was hampered.
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) verified that the Coral Crystal, a Panama-flagged bulk carrier with a cargo of 43,000 tonnes, experienced a temporary difficulty while transiting the canal southwards.
According to the tracking website MarineTraffic, Coral Crystal was seen travelling southwards further on Thursday afternoon, this time using her own engine and aiming for Port Sudan, a city in eastern Sudan. The carrier was seen cruising at roughly 12 knots while being surrounded by several huge container ships.
According to reports, tug boats rushed to the scene were able to effectively refloat the ship within only 15 minutes.
Two channels operate at this point in the canal, one for northbound traffic and the other for southbound ships, courtesy to a worth billions infrastructure project authorized by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in 2015.
The Ever Given, that had been unable to move for six days, became stuck in a part of the canal where there is no parallel channel.
The Suez Canal, the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia, receives about 15% of global marine traffic. According to the SCA, the March blockade cost the globe more than £730 million.