The Chairman and Managing Director of the Suez Canal Authority, Osama Rabie, said on Saturday that the Suez Canal is ready to receive mega container ships.
This announcement came during his inspection of navigation through the Canal from aboard the mega container ship CMA CGM JULES VERNE, which was transiting the Canal as part of the northbound convoy, en route from Singapore to Lebanon, after safely transiting through the Red Sea and the Bab El-Mandab Strait.
This voyage marks the first transit of the ship, affiliated to the French shipping line CMA CGM, from the south through Bab El-Mandab, and its third transit through the Canal. It is resuming transits after its last two southbound voyages this year, on June 20 and September 20.
Ship specifications
The ship is 396 meters in length, of a beam of 53.6 meters, has a draft of 11.5 meters and a gross tonnage of 176,000 tons.
During his visit to the ship, Rabie welcomed the crew and asked about their impressions of transiting through the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, as well as the quality of navigational services provided by the Canal.
He was received by CMA CGM Egypt & Sudan Cluster CEO, Tariq Zaghloul and the Group’s Operations Manager Amr al-Shafei.
Rabie also observed the transit of the container ship CMA CGM HELIUM on its maiden voyage through the Canal as part of the northbound convoy, en route from Singapore and calling at Alexandria.
This ship is 335 meters in length, of a beam of 51 meters, has a draft of 9.5 meters and a gross tonnage of 130,000 tons.
SCA promises safe transits
The Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority ordered that all necessary procedures be taken to ensure a safe transit.
This includes assigning a team of SCA chief pilots, providing navigational assistance by accompanying tugboats, and ensuring real-time monitoring from the Main Traffic Control Center and Trafic Control Stations located along the Canal.
Rabie lauded the long-standing strategic relations between the SCA and the French shipping line CMA CGM.
This is shown through their vessels’ continued transit through the Canal despite security challenges in the Red Sea region, he said, and through its initiative of having two mega container ships transit through the Canal after the success of the Sharm El-Sheikh summit.
That was followed by the transit of two of the group’s vessels on Saturday, a testament towards the Suez Canal’s reputation as the shortest, fastest and most secure waterway.
Rabie explained that the restoration of calm once more to the Red Sea region will impose a new reality on the shipping community, through the serious consideration by the shipping lines of amending navigation schedules so as to return to transiting through Bab el-Mandab and the Suez Canal once more.
He also emphasized that the SCA will intensify its meetings with the major shipping lines within the upcoming period to discuss ways to ensure the prompt return of container ships affiliated to them to transiting through the canal – either through experimental voyages, partial return or a multi-phased full return.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
