The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced on Tuesday that navigation had resumed in both the north and south passages of the canal, with 74 vessels carrying a total of 4.8 million tons of cargo transiting, according to a statement from SCA Chairman Osama Rabie. This followed the towing of the vessel that had caused the blockage.

An engine failure caused the ship to run aground on the northbound passage at the 157 km mark, the SCA noted, adding that the vessel is 190 metres long and has a capacity of 34,000 tons.

The SCA deployed three tugboats to refloat and tug the vessel to the Suez anchorage area, according to the statement.

In March 2021, the skyscraper-sized vessel Ever Given ran aground and blocked the Suez Canal for nearly a week until it was refloated by a fleet of Egyptian tugboats and diggers.