Egypt starts dredging works for new shipping lane East Port Said

Egypt started Saturday the dredging works of a new 9.5 kilometer-long shipping lane in East Port Said to facilitate international trade maritime navigation, said Suez Canal Authority (SCA) Mohab Mamish in media remarks Friday.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has decreed to start the dredging immediately after the inauguration of the 72km-long New Suez Canal that has been convened Thursday.

The Authority has contracted with the Alliance of Challenge, tasked with digging the inaugurated new canal, to lift 17 million square meters of water-saturated sands within a period of five months, Mamish added.

The Alliance includes the SCA’s dredging fleet, the Emirati National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC), Dutch Boskalis for Dredging, Dutch Van Oord, Belgian Jan De Nul group, Belgian Dredging International (DEME Group), and the U.S. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company(GLDD.)

The new shipping lane is parallel to East Port Said and aims to allow vessels to sail in both directions simultaneously and reducing the waiting time for international vessels passing from and to the main Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, the SCA chairperson continued.

Mamish said digging of the new lane is a part of East Port Said development project, planned to be established on 2,600 hectares of an industrial zone.

On Thursday, Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has inaugurated the 72-Kilometers long New Suez Canal aims to increase traffic and revenue.