Once again a ship was stuck in Suez Canal, blocking traffic for a few hours

The Suez Canal was once again in the news on Wednesday as a 250-metre-long oil tanker called ‘Affinity V’ got stuck in the narrow southern section. It was around the same place where the container ship ‘Ever Given’ was stuck in 2021 causing a massive impact on the supply chain moving through the region. 

Affinity V, a crude oil tanker bound for Saudi Arabia from Portugal, was stuck for around 4-5 hours before it was finally able to move forward. According to the Suez Canal Authority, the vessel was refloated with the help of tugboats and the busy route was back to normal in the next couple of hours. 

“Affinity ran aground at around 7.15 pm local time on Wednesday and was refloated five hours later,” George Safwat, a spokesman for Suez Canal Authority, told Egyptian government-affiliated Extra News. 

The whole incident reminded people about the ‘Ever Given; controversy where the shipping company had to pay the Suez Canal Authority around $200 million in compensation after blocking traffic on one of the fast routes connecting Europe and Asia.

However, the size of the Affinity V was not as big as Ever Given which helped in completing the recovery. While Ever Given was 400-metre-long, Affinity V was 252 metres long and 45 metres wide.