The chairman and managing director of the Suez Canal Authority, Ossama Rabiee, said on Saturday that the Suez Canal is ready to receive mega container ships.
The authority confirmed that the Canal is fully prepared 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, following the implementation of incentives.
The ship is 396-meters-long, 53.6-meters-wide, with an 11.5-meters draft, and a gross tonnage of 176,000 tons.
During his visit to the ship, Rabiee welcomed the crew and asked about their impressions of transiting through the Red Sea and the Bab El-Mandab Strait, as well as the quality of navigational services provided by the Canal.
Rabiee also observed the transit of the container ship CMA CGM Helium, a 335-meter-long, 51 meter-beam ship, with a 9.5-meter draft and 130,000 gross tonnage, on its maiden voyage through the Canal as part of the northbound convoy, en route from Singapore and calling at Alexandria.
The chairman of the Suez Canal Authority said 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.
He explained that the restoration of calmness 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.
The chairman 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.
