Egypt starts work on Suez Canal expansion
The Suez Canal Authority has started dredging work to extend a second lane in the southern section of the Suez Canal where the giant container ship Ever Given grounded in March.
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced last week that it is planning to extend a second canal lane that opened in 2015 by 10km to make it 82km long, and would widen and deepen a single lane stretch at the southern end of the canal where the ULCS Ever Given went hard aground in March.
The SCA said work has begun following directives from Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi “to immediately start implementing the proposed development plan and put in place a timetable for completion as soon as possible.”
The project will extend the two-way section south of the Great Bitter Lake and will be carried out in part by the largest dredger in the Middle East, the Mohab Mamish, which arrived in Egypt last month.
