Suez Canal Traffic Briefly Stopped After Oil Tanker Loses Power

(Bloomberg) --

Ship traffic through Egypt’s Suez Canal was briefly halted again Tuesday just two weeks after a giant container ship wedged itself across the waterway and blocked it.

The oil tanker Rumford needed tug boat assistance but was soon operational and the northbound convoy was moving normally again, according to an email from Inchcape Shipping Services.

On March 23, a 400-meter long container ship, the Ever Given, ran aground and became stuck. It took almost a week to dislodge it and get it under tow.

That incident caused a hundreds-long traffic jam of ships. Tuesday’s disruption serves as a reminder that traffic through the waterway is vulnerable to things outside the control of the Egyptian authorities.

About 12% of trade passes through the Suez Canal, a waterway shaving thousands of miles off voyages from Asia to Europe.

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