Traffic in Suez Canal back to normal after tugboats refloat stuck ship
Canal is strategic waterway that connects Mediterranean and Red Seas and is considered main source of foreign currency for Egypt
ANKARA
After briefly halting traffic in the Suez Canal, the stuck tanker AFFINITY V has been refloated by tugboats and is now moving slowly.
Navigation in the canal came to a standstill early Thursday after the Singapore-flagged oil tanker reported that it had run aground in the busy shipping lane.
According to TankerTrackers.com, the tanker had lost control while heading southbound and was later struck by a smaller tanker named AMELIA before coming to a halt.
But because it was not fully-laden with cargo, it could be refloated.
The Suez Canal is a strategic waterway that connects the Mediterranean and the Red Sea and is considered the main source of foreign currency for the Egyptian government.
The 152-year-old canal assumes 12% of global trade traffic and maintains its importance in world trade.
The canal, with a permissible draft of only 66 feet, can accommodate 61.2% of the world’s tanker fleets, 92.7% of bulk carrier fleets and 100% of container ships and other ships.
In 2021, one of the largest container ships -- the Ever Given -- was stuck in the canal for 106 days and caused a big loss both in global trade and Egypt's economy.
