Jan. 9 (UPI) — A bulk carrier suffered an engine failure in the Suez Canal on Monday but appears it will not stall traffic on one of the world’s most important waterways like in 2021 when a similar incident bogged it down for seven days.
The bulk vessel Glory was passing within the northern convoy of the canal when its engine failed. It was traveling from Turkey to China, carrying 65,970 metric tons of corn from war-torn Ukraine.
Leth Agencies said, though, it is expecting only minor delays.
“M/V Glory has been refloated by the Suez Canal Authority tugs,” the authority said. “Twenty-one vessels going southbound will commence/resume their transits. Only minor delays expected.”
In March 2021, a massive 220,000-ton tanker called Ever Given, got stuck in the Suez Canal for six days, which held up some $60 billion in trade.
Suez officials said it was “reassuring the maritime navigation world that traffic through the Canal was uninterrupted as 26 North-bound vessels are already in the waterway, and the South-bound convoy will resume its journey right upon the SCA tugboats-assisted transit of M/V Glory.”
The Suez Canal is one of the world’s most critical waterways for commerce. Over its 120 miles, the canal hosts 30% of global shipping container traffic and 12% of all global trade worth about $1 trillion annually.
In the six days the Ever Given was stuck, about 422 ships became delayed to go through the waterway.
