A tugboat pulls the Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier M/V Glory in the Suez Canal
(Picture: SUEZ CANAL AUTHORITY)A cargo ship carrying corn that went aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal has been refloated and traffic restored, authorities have said, adding that a repeat of 2021’s major blockage is unlikely.
The MV Glory ran aground near the city of Qantara and three canal tugboats were used to refloat the vessel, canal services firm Leth Agencies said.
It is unclear what caused the ship to hit ground, officials said, but parts of Egypt experienced a wave of bad weather on Sunday.
The Joint Coordination Center listed the Glory as carrying over 65,000 metric tons of corn from Ukraine bound for China.
The vessel was inspected by the Joint Coordination Center off Istanbul on January 3. The center includes Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian and United Nations staffers.
Satellite tracking data showed the MV Glory in a single-lane stretch of the Suez Canal just south of Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea, AP reports.
Leth Agencies later posted a graphic that suggested the Glory was against the west bank of the canal and not wedged across the channel.
The incident comes less than two years after a colossal container ship crashed into a bank and blocked the waterway for six days.
The Panama-flagged Ever Given crashed into a bank on a single-lane stretch of the canal in March 2021, blocking the waterway for almost a week.
The Ever Given was freed in a giant salvage operation by a flotilla of tugboats. The blockage created a massive traffic jam that held up $9 billion (£7.4 billion) a day in global trade and strained supply chains already burdened by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ever Given debacle prompted Egyptian authorities to begin widening and deepening the waterway’s southern part where the vessel hit ground.
In August, the Singaporean-flagged Affinity V oil tanker ran aground in a single-lane stretch of the canal, blocking the waterway for five hours before it was freed.
Opened in 1869, the Suez Canal provides a crucial link for oil, natural gas and cargo. It also remains one of Egypt’s top foreign currency earners.
In 2015, the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi completed a major expansion of the canal, allowing it to accommodate the world’s largest vessels.
The Glory is 225-meters (738-feet) long.
