Ship traffic in the Suez Canal has resumed after a bulk carrier suffered engine failure in the waterway and temporarily blocked the busy trade corridor.
“Work is now underway to tow the idle ship,” the Suez Canal Authority said on social media, adding that the vessel had been refloated after running aground.
The broken-down ship had been carrying 65,970 metric tons of corn from Ukraine and was bound for China.
The Suez Canal is one of the world’s most important waterways, with its 120-mile-long corridor hosting 30% of global shipping container traffic and 12% of all global trade worth about $1 trillion U.S. annually.
In March 2021, a 220,000-ton tanker got stuck across the Suez Canal for six days, causing its longest-ever closure due to a ship and holding up some $60 billion U.S. worth of trade.
