Sisi urges upgrading Suez Canal’s projects, facilities in meeting with SCA chief

CAIRO – 24 August 2020: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Monday urged developing Suez Canal, including its navigation course and other facilities, to strengthen its role in global trade, in a meeting with the chief of the Suez Canal Authority, the Egyptian Presidency said.

Sisi hailed the positive performance of the canal over the past period, which enabled it to overcome the coronavirus crisis, through following flexible marketing policies within the framework of a crisis management strategy.

Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) Osama Rabie reviewed the canal navigation traffic, pointing out that the number of ships that crossed the canal increased compared to the previous year, including the passage of the world's largest container ship, with a load of about 240,000 tons and 24,000 containers.

The canal showed resistant performance over the past period during the coronavirus pandemic by adopting flexible marketing policies, the SCA chairman noted.

Regarding developing the cadres and youth empowerment at the authority, Sisi ordered continuing to improve the youth skills and formulating a mechanism for their visions and ideas to develop the authority.

The meeting reviewed the developments of the technical cooperation with the foreign companies and the authority's efforts to upgrade its fleet.

 

Five years ago, the New Suez Canal, one of Sisi’s earliest projects, was inaugurated. This new canal is simply a waterway that is parallel to the famous Suez Canal, with the aim of facilitating traffic in both directions and minimizing the waiting time for transiting ships.

The main goal of the Suez Canal, both the original and the new one, is to link the Red Sea in eastern Egypt, through Suez city on the Gulf of Suez, with the Mediterranean Sea in the northern part of the country, through Port Said city, passing by Ismailia city almost halfway.

The 35-kilometer New Suez Canal was drilled in a record time as it took only less than a year to be announced completed. Both canals reportedly house 12 percent of international trade, through the huge commercial ships passing through. The new canal cost around LE 20 billion ($1.25 billion).

According to the Suez Canal Authority, the New Suez Canal can accommodate commercial vessels with up to 66 feet vessel draft (about 20 meters), as the new waterway is 24-meter deep and 317-meter wide at water level.