Shipping agent Leith said the collapse was expected to cause only minor delays, with convoys of ships resuming regular transit by 11:00 local time (09:00 GMT).
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said in a statement that the M/V Glory, which was sailing to China, suffered a technical malfunction when it was 38 kilometers from its passage south through the canal, before it was towed by four tugboats to a repair area. Reuters reports.
The Suez Canal is one of the busiest waterways in the world and the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
In 2021, a massive container ship, the Ever Given, got caught in high winds across the southern part of the canal, blocking traffic for six days before it could be dislodged.
M/V Glory is a Marshall Islands-branded bulk carrier, according to data from trackers VesselFinder and MarineTraffic.
It left the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk on Dec. 25 bound for China with 65,970 metric tons of corn, according to the Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Center (JCC) that oversees Ukraine’s grain exports.
The Joint Coordinating Committee, which includes representatives from the United Nations, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia, said the ship was cleared to continue its journey from Istanbul after an inspection on January 3.