2 tankers collide in Egypt’s Suez Canal: Marine Traffic

In Egypt’s Suez Canal, two tankers- Singapore-flagged BW Lesmes and Cayman Islands-flagged Burri, briefly collided, ship tracking company Marine Traffic said early Wednesday (today).

The shipping tracker showed the BW Lesmes, which carries LNG, stopped and pointing north, and Burri, an oil products tanker, moored and pointed south about 19 km from the southern end of the canal at 2.55 am (2355 GMT).

According to Marine Traffic, a time-lapse showed Cayman Islands’ ship turning sideways and colliding with an already sideways BW Lesmes at 2040 GMT before backing up and pointing straight.

The last port call for both ships had been Port Said to the north.

However, there was no confirmation yet from the Suez Canal Authority.

Notably, nearly 12 per cent of the world’s trade commune through this canal. During strong winds in 2021, a huge container ship named ‘the Ever Given,’ became jammed across it. Amid this, it halted traffic in both directions for six days and disrupted global trade.

Since then, there have been minor issues caused by technical problems with individual ships.