ISMAILIA: The first cargo ships passed through Egypt’s New Suez Canal yesterday in a test-run before it opens next month, state media reported, 11 months after the army began constructing the $8bn canal alongside the existing 145-year-old Suez Canal.
The new waterway, which President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi hopes will help expand trade along the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia, will be formally inaugurated on August 6.
Dubbed the Suez Canal Axis, the new 72km project is aimed at speeding up traffic along the existing waterway by reducing the waiting period for vessels, as well as boosting revenues. It will run part of the way along the existing canal that connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.
“Today, we made sure that vessels with a draught of 66 feet” are able to use the new waterway, said Captain Mohamed Fawzi of the Suez Canal Authority, dubbing the first trial run a “success”. Officials said six vessels in two fleets of three each crossed through the expanded canal as part of the trial run.
One fleet sailing from south to north had vessels flying the flags of Singapore, Luxembourg and Bahrain. The second, sailing from north to south, had flags from Liberia, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Fawzi said that the expansion means the waiting period for ships will be reduced from 18 hours to 11. The new waterway involves 37km of dry digging and 35km of expansion and deepening of the Canal, in a bid to help speed up the movement of vessels.
Sisi wants the canal to become a symbol of national pride and to help combat Egypt’s double-digit unemployment. The old Suez Canal is already a vital source of hard currency for Egypt, which has seen tourism and foreign investment drain away in the years of turmoil since a 2011 uprising.
The exercise took place amid tight security. State television said there were helicopters circling above and showed naval vessels escorting the ships.
The canal is part of an ambitious plan to develop the surrounding area into an industrial and commercial hub that would include the construction of ports and provide shipping services.
Authorities raised $9bn to build the new canal by selling shares in the project to domestic investors, with private Egyptian companies tasked with its construction. It is expected to more than double Suez revenues from $5.3bn expected at the end of 2015 to $13.2bn in 2023, according to official estimates.
Mohab Mameesh, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, told state television more test runs would follow. At a later news conference, Mameesh said construction of another canal near the East Port Said port on the Mediterranean Sea would begin as soon as the New Suez Canal had been inaugurated.
A senior Suez Canal Authority source said that the canal is expected to cost around $60m and will be 9.5km long, 18.5 metres deep, and 250 metres wide. It will take around seven months to build, the source said.
Built 146 years ago, the Suez Canal is one of the world’s most heavily used shipping lanes and a key source of international trade.
Reuters/AFP
