Traffic through the Suez Canal in Egypt has resumed after a tanker was briefly run aground.
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On Wednesday night, local time, the Suez Canal Authority reported a blockage to its busy shipping lane formed by the 252 metre long by 45-metre-wide tanker.
The Suez Canal Authority reported the vessel, known as the Affinity V, had experienced a technical malfunction in its rudder, leading the crew to lose steering ability.
The Suez Canal is used by about 15 per cent of the world's shipping traffic, on any given day.
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It's understood the canal authority deployed five tugboats to the vessel, which was reported to be wedged horizontally across the narrow canal.
Within five hours, the tugboats managed to return the Affinity V to safety.
The Affinity V is en route from Portugal to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
The situation has been likened to the Ever Given incident in March 2021. In that case, a blockage occurred after the Ever Given, a much larger vessel, became stuck at a similar angle in the canal.
It took teams six days to maneuver the 400-metre-long Ever Given out of its tight position. That operation took 16 tugboats and on ground earthmovers, and is estimated to have cost US $9 billion per day in global trade.
The Ever Given eventually reached its destination in Rotterdam in July 2021, after it had been kept from moving for three months while a compensation dispute waged between the canal authority and the vessel's owner.
It remained on the Great Bitter Lake in Egypt for the duration of the dispute.