Traffic in Suez Canal normalized

Shipping traffic in the Suez Canal was proceeding normally on Monday after tugs towed a cargo vessel that broke down during its passage through the waterway, the Suez Canal Authority said.

The breakdown caused only minor delays, with convoys of ships resuming regular transit by 09:00 GMT, shipping agent Leth said.

The MV Glory, which was sailing to China, suffered a technical fault when it was 38km into its passage southward through the canal, before being towed by four tugs to a repair area, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said in a statement.

The Suez Canal is one of the world's busiest waterways and the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

In 2021, a huge container ship, the Ever Given was stuck in high winds across a southern section of the canal, blocking traffic for six days before it could be dislodged.

The MV Glory is a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier, data from trackers VesselFinder and MarineTraffic showed.

It departed Ukraine's Chornomorsk port on December 25, 2022 bound for China with 65,970 metric tons of corn, according to the Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) overseeing Ukraine grain exports.

The JCC, which includes representatives from the United Nations, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia, said the ship had been cleared to carry on its journey from Istanbul after an inspection on January 03, 2022.