Shipping in the Suez Canal returned to normal on Wednesday, a day after tugs moved a stranded oil tanker that caused the strategic waterway's longest stoppage in almost 30 years, a port official said. Shipping through the canal resumed on Tuesday after coming to a standstill on Saturday when the 154,000 dead-weight-tonne Liberian-flagged vessel Tropic Brilliance ran aground.
"The traffic movement in the canal has returned to normal," the port official said.
He said 46 ships had entered the canal from the south and 45 entered from the north since the Tropic Brilliance was moved. He said about 40 more ships waiting at the northern entrance of the canal would enter the waterway on Wednesday.
According to the International Energy Agency, about 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil passes through the canal. The port authority says 7.5 percent of the world's seaborne trade passes through the waterway.
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.
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.
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.
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