On Egypt’s expansion plan for the Suez Canal

By Adekunle Segun

Adekunle Segun, ISPS, DPA, MLC, is a maritime industry professional based in Lagos, Nigeria. He can be reached on +2348163769265 (SMS only) or adekunleolusegun450@gmail.com

President Abdel Fattah Al-sisi of Egypt has approved a comprehensive expansion of the Suez Canal. With this new adjustment project, a double-lane stretch of the canal will be measuring about 82 km and this will lead to more passageways for vessels to navigate the canal.

The Suez Canal is a major passageway for vessels carrying merchandise between Europe and Asia and the expansion drive and approval could not have come at a better time. Under these projects the southernmost part of the facility, which currently measures at about 30 meters long will be widened by about 40 meters to the east side beside the Sinai Peninsula. This area is also expected to be heavily dredged to deepen the draft to 72 feet from the current 66 feet. The project, as announced by the SCA (Suez Canal Authority) will be completed after two years of serious work; the current planned expansion is accelerated to accommodate a second channel of the canal and also to enlarge an existing passageway.

According to the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, ships pass through the canal in convoys and the expansion would increase the capacity of the canal to take more ships. Ship navigation through the canal is also expected to receive about 28 percent increase in comparison to what it was previously.

It will be recalled that on the 23rd of March 2021 the canal was blocked to traffic bringing about a major halt to a sizable number of world trade. The ‘Ever Given’, a large container vessel, crippled trade along this route for nearly six days as various vessels were stopped on both sides of the carnal leading to a huge loss of revenue to every part of the seaborne trade that utilised this channel.

Various average measures, including contracting the services of a major Dutch firm ‘Smit Salvage’ was deployed to remove a major part of the ‘Ever Given’, from the bank of the canal. Rescue workers from the Suez Canal Authority also joined in the salvage efforts deploying various tugboats and other major marine equipment. After almost six days of heavy blockage, deployment of equipment and imaginable losses, the vessel was eventually removed and guided to an unobstructive anchorage called the ‘Great Bitter Lake’.  The SCA also revealed that about 19,000 ships passed through the canal in 2020 alone. The ‘Ever Given’, which is 200,000 tonnes in weight, was navigating through the canal in March 2021 when she came up against heavy winds which forced her to beach at the main passageway bank of the canal. She had been heading towards the Mediterranean and straight for Rotterdam in the Netherlands from China. After she was salvaged an Egyptian court ordered the owner of the vessel, Shoei Kisen Keisha, to pay a total of $900 million in compensation; and this dragged on for a protracted period before a figure was eventually agreed by the parties.

The SCA and its partners, however, deemed it important to undertake this project in order to allow more passageways for vessels. The Suez Canal facilitates over 10 percent of global trade and connects the Mediterranean to the Red sea. This provides a very short route and routing option to vessels transiting between Europe and Asia. The only other option to the Suez Canal is to go around the African continent before heading to Europe, which is very taxing to all parties involved.

A project of this magnitude will definitely have a positive impact on the shipping and seaborne trade industry. Meanwhile a thorough EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) needs to be meticulously carried out. The Suez Canal is located between two major water bodies and utmost attention needs to be given to cases like erosion, swells and some other environmental phenomenon that can have adverse effects on the primary significance of this facility.

The government of Egypt also needs to give priority to merchant vessel specifications and avoid a situation where the canal will be advantageous to war or other military grade facilities. Beyond all, the importance of this naturally endowed canal cannot be overemphasised when discussing merchant trade between Europe and Asia. And this is why this expansion is important and right at this time.

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