Traffic through the Suez Canal is flowing normally in both directions after a grounding incident involving the oil tanker KOMANDER.
Adm. Ossama Rabiee, Chairman and Managing Director of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), confirmed that maritime salvage efforts handled the situation immediately.
The tanker’s machinery failed at km 47, causing it to ground during the northern convoy transit at 12:30 pm. Five SCA tugboats, MOHAMED BESHIR, MOSAED 4, PORT SAID 3, SUEZ 1, NABIL ELHELALY, were deployed to refloat the vessel. The EZZAT ADEL tug assisted in the towage.
The salvage operation took just 30 minutes, and by 1:00 pm, the tanker was refloated. It was then towed by EZZAT ADEL to the Bitter Lakes area, allowing traffic to resume normally.
The tanker measures 274 m in length, 48 m beam, and 80,000 tons.
Adm. Rabiee emphasized the SCA’s ability to respond quickly to navigational emergencies. He credited the human capital, technical capabilities, advanced fleet, and experience in towage and salvage for the successful operation.
Today, 34 vessels transited the Canal in both directions, with a total net tonnage of 1.4 million tons.
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