An inspection is still ongoing over the grounding of a Panama-flagged cargo ship in the new Suez Canal extension.
The cargo ship was floated and taken to harbour for inspection on Saturday.
The ship Dream Coral, which was transporting iron ore, deviated from its route near the 114 kilometre mark at the exit of the expansion, which was inaugurated in August.
The ship was proceeding south through the canal, but became grounded in a sandy embankment after losing propulsion power, the naval news website Maritime News reported.
The ship was transported to the Suez harbour for inspection. However, the reason behind its deviation off course has yet to be announced.
A source working in the canal told Daily News Egypt that an inspection into the incident is still ongoing.
The grounding incident took place at the meeting point of the new expansion with Al-Ballah extension of the Suez Canal, an area of concern due to the condition of the waterway’s embankment.
A staff engineer of the Suez Canal authority spoke to Daily News Egypt on the condition of anonymity and explained that the embankment work in the new expansion was not completed when it was inaugurated last August.
“Almost 22 kilometres of embankment was completed by the time of inauguration. That’s less than a third of the work,” he said.
He also said that work on the embankment continued the next day, following the inauguration.
In late February, another ship hoisting the Panama flag, the cargo carrier New Katerina, grounded in the old waterway of the canal, blocking traffic until it was refloated twelve days after it suffered damages due to running aground.
