Oil tanker breaks down in Egypt's Suez Canal

Tags: International News

On 4 June, an oil tanker broke down in the Suez Canal, a major global waterway, disrupting traffic and temporarily halting the transit of other ships.

An overview of the news

• As a result of the breakdown, eight other vessels in the convoy were affected by the disruption.

• The Seavigour was part of the north convoy, which moves from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.

• The Suez Canal Authority deployed three tugboats to tow the stranded tanker away from the single-lane area.

• The goal was to move the tanker to a double-lane section at the 17 kilometer mark, allowing other vessels to continue their transit.

About Seavigour

• According to MarineTraffic, the Seavigour  is a tanker built in 2016, measuring 274 meters (899 ft) in length and 48.63 meters (159 ft) in width.

Previous Incidents in the Suez Canal

• The recent incident adds to a series of vessels encountering difficulties in the vital waterway.

• Notably, inMarch 2021, the Panama-flagged Ever Given, a massive container ship, blocked the canal for six days, causing significant disruptions to global trade.

About Suez Canal

• The Suez Canal, operational since 1869, serves as a crucial link for oil, natural gas, and cargo transportation.

• The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway running north to south from the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt to connect the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

• This canal separates the continent of Africa from Asia.

• It provides the shortest sea route between Europe and the lands surrounding the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans.

• The Suez Canal is one of the busiest trade routes in the world. About 12 percent of the world's total trade passes through this canal daily.