Another vessel crossing the Suez Canal run aground temporarily at the waterway on Thursday, but the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said it has been refloated shortly after and that there was no impact on traffic.

The Panama-flagged CORAL CRYSTAL was carrying 43,000 tonnes of cargo when it experienced a momentary issue while traveling south via the canal, but ships behind it were rerouted into a parallel lane.

"The SCA has handled the very brief grounding incident of the bulk carrier CORAL CRYSTAL, which transited among the North convoy at the 54 km mark (Canal marking) in the western branch of Al- Ballah bypass with 43 thousand tons of cargo on board," the Canal Authority said in a statement.

It added that the incident was resolved in a professional manner through the aid of SCA tug boats, and the ship resumed its transit through the Canal.

Traffic unaffected with the incident

"Traffic was not negatively impacted in any way since it was directed to the eastern branch of Al- Ballah bypass," Adm. Ossama Rabiee, chairman and managing director of the Suez Canal Authority, said.

As of Thursday, the traffic flow in the major waterway was as usual according to navigational reports.

SCA also noted that 61 vessels transited in both directions with a net tonnage of 3.2 million tons, including 37 ships crossing from the northern direction with a total net tonnage of two million tons, and 24 ships from the south with combined tonnage of 1.2 million tons.

Rabiee emphasized that the authority has the necessary capabilities to deal with such malfunctions, as well as emergency infrastructure, particularly following the inauguration of the new Suez Canal project and development projects for the building of a series of garages along the new canal.

Traffic at the Suez Canal was blocked in both directions for six days in March when the giant container ship EVER GIVEN became grounded in a southern section of the canal, sending the already fragile supply chain in tailspin and causing shipping delays stretching for months.