Photo credit: Suez Canal Authority
The Suez Canal Authority announced the gradual return of mega container ships to the canal in the past two years, marked by the transit of the container ship CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin.
The voyage marks the first transit of the giant container ship through the Suez Canal and Bab el-Mandeb Strait since its last transit on October 22, 2023, due to regional tensions.
According to admiral Ossama Rabiee, chairman and managing director of the Suez Canal Authority, the vessel transited as part of the north convoy, travelling from the United Kingdom to Malaysia.
The container ship, affiliated to the French shipping line CMA CGM, is 399 meters in length, with a beam of 54 meters, and a draft of 13.5 meters.
It can carry 17,859 containers, with a net tonnage of 177,000 tons, making it the largest container ship to transit through the Canal in two years.
Rabiee affirmed that the transit of the container ship through the Suez Canal and then Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a positive indicator of the return of giant container ships to the Canal, given the restored stability in the Red Sea region.
He added that the incentives and flexible marketing policies implemented by the authority since last May have restored 28 voyages of medium-sized container ships, with average tonnage ranging from 130,000 to 160,000 tons to transit through the Suez Canal on their voyages from Europe to Asia.
These include 19 voyages by CMA CGM and 9 voyages by MSC.
Rabiee also pointed out that the French shipping line CMA CGM has rerouted its giant container ship, CMA CGM Zheng HE, to transit through the Suez Canal instead of the Cape of Good Hope, adding two such voyages to its existing Canal routes. Each of these ships has a net tonnage of up to 180,000 tons.
Furthermore, the chairman emphasized that “the safe transit of the container ship CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin through Bab el-Mandeb Strait after transiting through the Suez Canal sends a reassuring message to all shipping lines that stability has been restored to the region.”
