Barely a couple of weeks after suffering a scary blow by a Houthi missile that tore through its deck and port side, a Greek-owned bulker set out at open sea again.
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced on Sunday that affiliate Suez Shipyard Co completed repair work on the hull of the 56,900-dwt Zografia (built 2010).
Vessel trackers already show the ship underway in the Mediterranean Sea.
The vessel, however, will not be resuming trade immediately.
TradeWinds has learned that Piraeus-based owner Vulcanus Technical Maritime is sending it to a Greek shipyard instead to undergo more permanent repairs of unknown duration.
A missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi militia hit the ballasting vessel in the Red Sea on 16 January.
Four days later, TradeWinds published dramatic video showing the missile’s impact. Shot from a camera on the bridge, the footage showed the projectile exploding on deck amidships towards the bow.
A separate video released by the SCA on 23 January revealed the missile’s exit point — a gaping hole in the Zografia’s port side, amidship towards the bow and near the waterline.
In its statement on Sunday, the authority said it carried out an “urgent repair programme” within “a record” four days.
Works included “the dismantling and replacement of some iron parts of the hull, replacement of damaged and damaged iron in the shipping pipes, as well as some repairs to the main balance pipes and other repairs to the hydraulic control pipes”.
The SCA used the Zografia as an opportunity to advertise its ship repair prowess as the Houthi attacks are taking a heavy toll on the waterway’s core ship transit business.
According to the latest Clarksons figures, daily tonnage crossing the canal dropped to 1.72m dwt on 27 January. That is the lowest level since March 2021, when the grounding of the 20,388-teu container ship Ever Given (built 2018) brought traffic to a stop.
The average daily tonnage that crossed the canal since 12 January — the day the US and UK escalated the Red Sea crisis by beginning airstrikes against the Houthis — was 3m dwt, about half the figure recorded in the first half of December 2023.
The Houthis claim to be attacking ships owned by or trading with Israel, or affiliated with its Western allies, to put pressure on Israel to stop its war against the Palestinian Hamas group in Gaza.
The group claimed that the Zografia was heading towards Israel.
