A new ship had a breakdown in the Suez Canal on Wednesday, according to a source within the Egyptian authority of this passage, without however disrupting traffic on this strategic route linking Europe and Asia, where transits 10% of world maritime trade. .
“
An engine damage caused a breakdown on this boat while it was going up the Suez Canal
”, explained to AFP, on condition of anonymity, this official of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) .
“
Traffic has not been disrupted and an operation is underway to rescue this vessel
,” he continued.
Already in early January, a bulk carrier carrying Ukrainian corn briefly ran aground in the Suez Canal before being refloated without disrupting traffic.
The scenario of a traffic stoppage on the canal is feared by world markets, which have not forgotten the highly publicized blocking of a giant container ship, the Ever Given, for several days in 2021.
The rescue operation lasted six days and cost the life of an SCA agent.
Egypt had lost between $12 million and $15 million per day of closure while insurers estimated losses for global maritime trade at billions of dollars per day.
The huge work inaugurated in 1869 then enlarged and modernized several times, which connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, is a jewel for the Egyptian State, one of the five in the world now in danger of not being able to pay its debt exterior.
The Suez Canal brought in a record profit of 7.5 billion euros in 2022.
Read alsoSuez sets sail for the international market to move forward
With inflation officially at 22% - but in reality more than 100% according to hyperinflation experts - Egypt is on the hunt for the dollar: the IMF has agreed to lend it three billion dollars over four years, far from the 42 that the country must repay for its debt in 2022-2023.
