Navigation in the Suez Canal broke a new daily record last week in terms of the number and loads of ships sailing through the Canal. According to Admiral Mohab Mamish, Chairman of Suez Canal Authority (SCA), Wednesday 15 May saw 66 ships weighing some four million tons cross in both directions: from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, with no waiting time at any point.
From north to south, 41 ships with a total weight of 1.9 million tons passed; and from south to north 25 ships with a total weight of 1.2 million tons.
The Canal now attracts heavy freighters of 150,000 tons or more. The giant container ship “Al-Jasrah”, 159,000 tons, sailed the Canal from north to south flying the flag of the Marshall Islands, on a trip from the UK to China. Another giant container ship, the 200,000 ton “Tihama” sailed from south to north under the Maltese flag, heading from Singapore to the UK.
Admiral Mamish said that statistics regarding global trade and shipping are promising. In August 2015, he had stood alongside President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in a grand celebration inaugurating the “New Suez Canal”; a 72-kilometre canal had been dug parallel to and joining with the original canal, to speed up transit time and allow ships to sail in both directions at the same time. This created a mostly two-way 165km-long course joining the Mediterranean and Red Sea.
As head of the SCA, Admiral Mameesh explained that the SCA adopts a flexible pricing policy that takes into account the variables of International maritime transport, attracting thus more freight ships; some had never before crossed through the Suez Canal.
Watani International
19 May 2019