Suez Canal: Ships being diverted to old channel

Traffic diverted to an older channel after large ship runs aground blocking vessels passing through the busy waterway.

Ships in the Suez Canal are being diverted to an older channel after a large container ship ran aground, blocking vessels passing through one of the world’s most important waterways. At approximately 05:40 GMT on Tuesday, one of the largest container ships in the world – the 200,000-tonne Ever Given – ran aground in the canal, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), the ship’s technical manager said. About 12 percent of world trade, by volume, passes through the canal connecting Europe and Asia, and the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) remains a major source of hard currency for Egypt.