Suez Canal Is Closed

[BEER980]

Suez Canal Is Closed
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From http://www.oil.com

Suez Canal Is Closed for First Time Since 1975; 60 Ships Halted
Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Navigation through Egypt's Suez Canal, a main shortcut for marine transport, has stopped for the first time since 1975 after an oil tanker ran aground half-way through the passage, preventing around 60 ships from sailing through, canal officials and government newspapers said.

A failure in the steering system of the Liberian-flagged tanker ``Tropic Brilliance'' caused it to run aground at a curve near the city of Ismailiya, 84 miles (135 kilometers) northwest of Cairo, said an official who asked not to be identified. The accident happened two days ago at 3 p.m. local time, he said.

The ship is laden with 84,000 tons of oil and was coming from Singapore, he said, without disclosing the tanker's destination. About 60 ships were waiting to cross the canal in either direction, he said. The 101-mile waterway links the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

Tugboats are at work to pull the tanker back into water, said the official, adding that the size of the tanker and the curve is complicating the process. The work may take at least seven days, the government-owned Alakhbar newspaper quoted canal officials as saying.

This is the first time that navigation stops completely through the waterway since it reopened on June 5, 1975, according to Alakhbar. It had closed following the 1967 war, when Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula.

Egypt stands to lose about $7 million every day the canal stays closed, Alakhbar said.

The number of ships that passed though the Suez Canal in September was 1,393, according to Egyptian government figures. Oil tankers accounted for about 19 percent of the traffic. The canal opened in 1869, allowing ships to travel between Europe and Asia without sailing around Africa.