A large liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Grace Emilia ran aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal on Wednesday.
ran aground in Egypt’s Suez Canal on Wednesday.Local media reported the shipping traffic was unaffected as the incident took place in a southern section of the canal where a second channel allows for ships to bypass the blockage.
Initial reports by Norwegian ship agency Leth indicated the vessel had run aground in Little Bitter Lake with AIS data from Vesselfinder (below) showing four tugboats working to move the 293-m-long vessel.
Although the Suez Canal Authority has yet to release information on the specifics of the incident, local news outlets cited officials saying the ship had suffered a rudder malfunction.
Equasis lists the 2021-built 174,000 cu m ship, which entered the canal early Wednesday morning, as owned by Japan’s NYK. According to Leth, the ship was successfully refloated at 17.40 hrs local time. The AIS data now shows the ship ‘not under command’ and heading for the Great Bitter Lake.
The latest incident comes just three weeks after the bulker Glory bound for China carrying 66,000 mt of corn from Ukraine suffered a mechanical failure and had to be towed to a safe area for the traffic to resume through the key trading artery between Europe and Asia.
