The tanker being towed through the Suez Canal crashes

Today, Sunday, Egypt deployed three locomotives to tow an oil tanker that broke down in the Suez Canal, announced the authority in charge of this sea corridor through which 10% of world trade passes.

• Also read: Sandstorm in Egypt: A man dies crushed by a billboard

The report stated that traffic returned to normal “in both directions” after a short interruption caused by a “technical failure in the engine room” of the Seavigour ship, which is supposed to join Russia to China. Suez Canal Authority.

The same source said that after that, three locomotives that had to “tow and dock to repair” the oil tanker, which has a capacity of 82,000 tons, 274 meters in length and 48 in width, broke down.

The incident occurred at a time when Egypt was going through an economic crisis marked by an inflation rate of 32% and a 50% depreciation of its currency. The country is seeking dollar resources to meet these pressing challenges.

The Suez Canal is one of its largest sources of foreign exchange revenue, with revenues of more than $7 billion recorded in 2022.

In March 2021, the Ever Given, a gigantic container ship of nearly 200,000 tons, whose bow became on the east bank of the canal during a sandstorm, blocked the traffic lane between Europe and Asia.

The rescue operation took six days and claimed the life of a Suez Canal Authority agent. Egypt lost between 12 and 15 million dollars per day from the closure, while insurance companies estimated the impact on global maritime trade at billions of dollars per day.