The Suez Canal was once again in the news on Wednesday as a 250-meter-long tank called Affinity V got stuck in the narrow southern section. It was around the same place where the container ship called Ever Given was stuck in 2021 causing massive problems for the supply chain moving through the region. 

Affinity V, a crude oil tanker which was bound for Saudi Arabia from Portugal, was stuck for around 4-5 hours before it was finally able to move forward. According to the Suez Canal Authority, the vessel was refloated with the help of tugboats and the busy route was back to normal in the next couple of hours. 

“Affinity ran aground at around 7.15 pm local time on Wednesday, and was refloated five hours later,”, George Safwat, a spokesman for Suez Canal Authority, told Egyptian government-affiliated Extra News.

The Guardian reported that the steering systems in Affinity V started malfunctioning and that was the reason why it ran aground. “She temporarily clogged up traffic and is now facing south again, but moving slowly by tugboat assistance,” hip monitoring service TankerTrackers tweeted.   

The whole incident reminded a lot of people of the Ever Given controversy where the shipping company had to pay the Suez Canal Authority around $200 million in compensation after blocking traffic on one of the fast routes connecting Europe and Asia. 

However, the size of the Affinity V was not as big as Ever Given which helped in completing the recovery. While Ever Given was 400-metre-long, Affinity V was 252 metres long and 45 metres wide. 

(With inputs from agencies)