Mohammed Abu Zaid
CAIRO: The shipping course of the Suez Canal could be expanded under plans being considered by the waterway’s authority.
A shipping course of a vessel is the direction in which it is to be steered.
Osama Rabie, head of the Suez Canal Authority, said that the canal’s continuous development operations had helped it to maintain its position as the first choice for major shipping lines.
Rabie also said that in 2021 the canal would attract shipping lines that had not previously crossed it, including LNG tankers from the US East Coast that were bound for Asia, thanks to the flexible marketing policies pursued by the authority.
He reviewed recent developments at the authority, saying there had been 4,581 vessel crossings during the first quarter of 2021 with a total net tonnage of 291 million.
He said 85 percent of the oil from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait was transported to the East but did not pass through the canal, while 61 percent of the world’s oil carriers passed through the waterway.
Dry bulk carriers and containers made up the largest percentage of traffic in the Suez Canal, he added and stressed there was no alternative way to the canal that was not being studied.
The incentives provided last year led to an 8 percent increase in ship traffic despite the pandemic, he said.
