At the end of last week, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) approved the construction of a new 9.5 kilometre-long, 17 metre-deep and 250m-wide access channel to Port Said East.
This will permit uninterrupted vessel traffic to the Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT), one of the largest and busiest container facilities on the Mediterranean Sea. At present, due to convoy traffic on the canal, vessels calling Port Said East are restricted to an eight-hour daily transit window.
The project is expected to be completed within seven months.
The APM Terminals-operated SCCT, which handled 3.4 million TEUs in 2014, will be providing the equivalent of R210 million toward the side channel project - which will significantly increase vessel traffic to the gateway and transhipment hub.
The annual throughput capacity will increase to 5.4 million TEUs with the delivery of four new super-post-Panamax cranes able to work 18 000 TEU capacity vessels – making it the only facility in Egypt able to accommodate vessels of 15 500 TEU and above.
