CAIRO, 9 November 2004 — Egyptian authorities closed the Suez Canal for the first time in 30 years yesterday after a disabled oil tanker defied tugs trying for a second day to free the waterway and release more than 60 blocked ships.
The canal authority said the closure of one of the world’s major waterways would remain in place for at least three days, “until a new order”, according to a statement carried by the official Egyptian news agency MENA. The Suez, which earns Egypt around $7.9 million a day, was last closed after the Arab-Israeli war of October 1973 and reopened in January 1975.
An average of some 50 vessels each day use the canal, a massive time saving structure for shipping companies which links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.
The reason for the closure was the Liberian-registered vessel, “Tropic Brilliance”, which was immobilized on Sunday near the town of Ismailiya, 140 km (90 miles) northeast of Cairo. It remained unclear yesterday exactly how the ship had run aground. The stricken 89,000-ton tanker is lying cross-wise in the canal, preventing any ships from passing, and defying efforts by several tugs - including a giant one, the “Adel Ezzat”, sent late on Sunday — to shift it.
Some 46 ships heading toward the Red Sea are lying off the coast and in the Port Said area to the north of the canal, while another 20 are blocked in the Bitter Lake area in the south, heading from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, authority officials said.
The Bitter Lake region can hold upto 300 waiting ships, officials said.
Port sources say the tanker will have to be partly discharged before it can be moved, but the “Adel Ezzat” lacks the necessary pumping equipment. The authority says it will take at least two days for another tug to reach the area.
The 195-km (120-mile) long canal, which was inaugurated on Nov. 17, 1869, is one of Egypt’s main sources of income after tourism and transfers by Egyptian workers from abroad.
Average annual income from the canal between 1996 and 2003 reached $1.9 billion, compared to $3.6 billion for tourism, and $3.1 billion in transfers from overseas.
The canal is 163 km long, and has a width of a minimum of 60 meters. The canal is cutting through three lakes, the Lake Manzala, in the north from which it is protected with a bedding on the western side, the Lake Timsah in the middle, and the Bitter Lakes further south. The Bitter Lakes makes up almost 30 km of the total length.
