Combined services of some tug boats have refloated an oil tanker that was briefly stranded in Egypt’s Suez Canal late on Wednesday due to a technical fault with its rudder, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said.
The vessel, Affinity V, had been blocking the southern section of the canal, two navigational sources said, but SCA sources said shortly after midnight local time that traffic had returned to normal.
The incident occurred in the same southern, single-lane stretch of the canal where a giant cargo ship, the Ever Given, ran aground for six days in March 2021, disrupting global trade
Recall that barely fifteen months of a similar disaster , a crude oil tanker identified as ” MT Affinity V” has ran aground in the Suez Canal in the exact location as where the Ever Given grounded.
AIS data from MarineTraffic is showed the Singapore-flagged crude oil tanker Affinity V was straddling the canal with its status as “Aground”. The ship is in the southern end of the Canal where there is only one lane.
Yoooo. The crude oil tanker Affinity V is aground in the Suez Canal in almost the exact same spot as Ever Given!! pic.twitter.com/ODaGkTus82
— Mike Schuler (@MikeSchuler) August 31, 2022
The Affinity V is a 114,070 dwt tanker measuring 252 meters long by 45 meters wide It’s draft is reported to be 11.2 meters.
It now appears as though she is on the move again after blocking the canal for about 5 hours.
Ever since the Ever Given’s grounding, the Suez Canal Authority has been beefing up its tug fleet and working to widen portions of the Canal to allow for two-way traffic. It seems the investment on tugs paid off big time today.
