Plans of the Suez Canal Board to expand it

The container Ever Given, on 23 March turned sideways and settled on a shallow cliff in a one-lane section of the Suez Canal, approximately 6 km from its southern entrance, near Suez, resulting in a halt to traffic on an important waterway – valued at approximately $15 million a day. Every day, 12% of world trade flows through the channel, one million barrels of oil and 8% of liquefied natural gas.

Today, after descending from the shallow ship, the ship went to the Great Gorzkie Lake, where an inspection of the underwater part of the hull, designed to show whether the unit suffered damage threatening its safety and the environment.

The Ever Given case points to the need to complete a second Suez Canal waterway track over its entire length. The new parallel route called the "New Suez Canal" currently in existence on a 72 km stretch allows two-way movement of ships shortening the channel transition time by half (up to 11 hours). However, on the remaining 81 km it is possible to change traffic with the use of "mijanes". These only directional sections limit channel capacity and are also sensitive to locking in the event of a ship failure. The expansion of the channel on these sections seems necessary as it is a way to increase the state's revenue and to reduce the risk of the channel being completely blocked. The estimated cost of expanding the channel can be up to a dozen billion dollars.

The channel board intends to purchase a special crane that could be used for the possible unloading of ships that are stuck in the channel. The idea of buying a crane is the result of an experience with an accident of container ship Ever Given which for 6 days blocked traffic on the channel.

In addition, the channel board announces the purchase of two tugs to strengthen the fleet.

Signature: MD