Maritime rescue forces free ‘Komander’ oil tanker after grounding in Suez Canal

CAIRO – 28 October 2025: Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, Lieutenant General Osama Rabie, said that navigation through the canal is going smoothly in both directions and was not affected by the grounding of the KOMANDER oil tanker that took place on Tuesday.

The maritime rescue efforts had succeeded in dealing with the tanker grounding while transiting the canal as part of the northern convoy.

The Authority's Chairman explained that as soon as the Main Navigation Control Center received notification of a mechanical failure that led to the tanker running aground at kilometer 47 of the Canal at 12:30 p.m., five Authority tugs were immediately dispatched: the "Mohamed Bashir," the "Mosaed 4," the "Port Said 3," the "Suez 1," and the "Nabil El-Hilali" tugs.

They performed the necessary pulling to straighten and refloat the tanker. The "Ezzat Adel" tug also participated in the towing.

Lieutenant General Rabie indicated that the necessary rescue operations took only 30 minutes, with the Authority's tugboats successfully handling the situation and concluding it by 1:00 PM.

The KOMANDER oil tanker is 274 meters long, 48 meters wide, and has a capacity of 80,000 tons.

Lieutenant General Osama Rabie affirmed the Suez Canal's ability to respond promptly to difficult situations and manage navigational emergencies efficiently and competently, given the Authority's human resources, technical capabilities, advanced naval fleet, and accumulated experience in towing and rescue.

It is worth noting that the canal's navigation witnessed on Tuesday the passage of 34 ships in both directions, with a total net tonnage of 1.4 million tons.