A ship has become stuck in Egypt’s Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.
According to Leth Shipping Agency, the ship is the Xin Hai Tong 23, a 189m-long bulk carrier that was built in 2010 and is sailing under the flag of Hong Kong.
The agency said that tugboats are trying to re-float it and at least four other vessels are stuck behind it.
The Suez Canal runs between Port Said (Būr Sa’īd) on the Mediterranean Sea, and Suez (al-Suways) on the Red Sea.
It is just 200m wide at its narrowest point – a feature that has caused problems for ships before.
In 2021, the Ever Given became stuck for six days when it hit the bank of a single-lane stretch of the canal about 3.7 miles north of the southern entrance, near the city of Suez.
The ship had been on its way to the Dutch port of Rotterdam and its grounding caused chaos for the shipping industry, which was already under pressure from COVID-19-related supply chain problems.
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At one point it was estimated by Lloyd’s List that the stranded container vessel was holding up $400m an hour in trade.
The shipping data and news company valued the canal’s westbound traffic at roughly $5.1bn a day and eastbound traffic at around $4.5bn a day.
Approximately 12% of the world’s trade moves through the Suez, with energy exports making up between 5 and 10% of this, and the remainder largely consumer products.
