Almost a year and a half after days of blockade of the Suez Canal in Egypt, a freighter got stuck there again. The approximately 250-meter-long tanker “Affinity V” ran aground due to a technical defect on the rudder, the Suez Canal Authority said on Thursday. Tugboats managed to get the ship afloat again.
According to a spokesman for the authorities, the tanker blocked the channel for around five hours on Wednesday evening. Ship traffic has now returned to normal, said the head of the Suez Canal Authority, Osama Rabi.
According to the ship information service Marine Traffic, the “Affinity V” is flying the Singapore flag. She comes from Portugal and is on her way to the Saudi Arabian port city of Janbu. The tanker ran aground in the southern part of the Suez Canal.
At the end of March last year, the container ship “Ever Given” ran aground in the same region. For six days, the 400-meter-long cargo ship blocked the canal, causing a traffic jam and delaying the passage of hundreds of ships. International supply chains were massively disrupted as a result.
The Suez Canal is one of the most important waterways in the world. It connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea and is the shortest sea route from Asia to Europe. The canal is one of the most important sources of income for Egypt.