Suez Canal reopens after stranded tanker moved

The Suez Canal reopened to shipping on Tuesday after tugs moved a stranded oil tanker that had caused the longest stoppage in almost 30 years in the strategic waterway, a senior official said. Shipping through the canal resumed after coming to a standstill late on Saturday when the 154,000 dead-weight-tonne Liberian-flagged vessel Tropic Brilliance ran aground, Suez Canal Authority Chairman Ahmed Aly Fadel said in a statement.
Fadel said the operation to refloat the tanker was a success and there were no leaks from the tanker's 84,000-tonne cargo of crude. Officials earlier said some 25,000 tonnes of crude had been removed so tug boats could tow the tanker out of the way.
An official said a convoy of some 46 vessels that had been stuck in the canal had resumed their journey from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. Another 55-ship convoy was preparing to head south later through the canal, a key international trade route.
Officials said an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the incident, which port sources earlier said had caused more than 100 waiting vessels to be backed up inside and outside the canal.
Gulf Agency Company (GAC) shipping agents said the laden tanker became stranded after its steering failed and that it suffered damage to its bow, rudder and propeller. GAC said no oil spill had been reported as a result of the grounding.
Canal sources said the closure was the first in almost three decades to last longer than a day.
The Canal closed during the 1967 Middle East war when Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula. It reopened in 1975. Since then shipping had previously been halted only for a matter of hours.
According to the International Energy Agency, about 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil passes through the canal.
About 7.5 percent of the world's seaborne trade passes through the waterway, according to the port authority.
Last year, some 15,667 ships made the 12-hour journey through the canal, an average of 43 ships a day, according to industry daily Tradewinds. This year the daily average has been 47 vessels.
The Suez Canal is a major source of hard currency revenue to Egypt. Officials estimate daily losses caused by the closure were about $7 million.