The Suez Canal Traffic Got Blocked By A Big Ship. Again!

The Suez Canal got blocked again! This time a bulk carrier vessel became wedged in Egypt's artificial sea-level waterway and briefly blocked traffic, Egyptian authorities said.

In an official statement, the Suez Canal Authority said that the Panama-flagged Coral Crystal ran aground in a double-lane stretch of the canal and forced the authorities to redirect other vessels in the convoy to the other lane.

Meaww

The canal transits two convoys everyday; One north-bound to the Mediterranean and the other south-bound to the Red Sea.

The statement also said that the canal's tugboats managed to float the south-bound vessel which carries cargo weighing 43,000 tons. The Coral Crystal then resumed its voyage, the canal said.

Admiral Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal, said that the inconvenience was ¡°very brief grounding,¡± and resolved in a ¡°professional manner.¡±

Geoge Safwat, the canal spokesman, said 61 vessels, carrying a total of 3.2 million tons of cargo, transited in the Suez Canal on Thursday. ¡°Traffic (at the canal) was not negatively impacted in anyway," since it was redirected to the other lane of waterway, he said.

Officials have not disclosed what caused the vessel to run aground.

Articlepedia (Ever Given)

The ship was built in 2012 with a length of nearly 738 feet and a width of over 104 feet. It was on its way to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.