A Maltese-flagged, Iranian-owned tanker ran aground in the Suez Canal early yesterday, halting traffic in the major waterway for six hours until it was towed away.

No oil was spilled from the ISI Olive tanker, the Suez Canal Authority said in a statement.

The statement said the 1992-built crude oil tanker got stranded just after passing through the southern, Red Sea entrance of the waterway because of a failure in the steering gear which caused it to run aground on the western bank of the 190 kilometres long canal.

It took Suez Canal authorities six hours to extricate and tow the tanker away. The 81,000-tonne 270-metre-long vessel was only slightly damaged.

Because of the traffic halt, 59 ships were delayed for passage from both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea mouths.

About 7.5 per cent of world sea trade passes through the canal, which at its narrowest is 120 metres wide and is divided into two 60-metre-wide lanes. The canal is a major source of foreign currency for Egypt.

It was the second incident involving a Maltese-registered tanker in seven days. Last Friday, a large ship with 11 people on board was stuck sideways in the mouth of the River Teign in the UK.

The 2,264-tonne Malta-registered Leonid Leonov was carrying a cargo of clay when it ran aground on a sandbar at the mouth of the river due to windy conditions just after 11 on Friday night.

And another Maltese-flagged ship, the Cape Passero, was last week detained by coast guards from the CG Operations’ Management Office. Border guard police said that the ship was charged with polluting Georgian waters in Batumi Port. (AP)