A new shipping channel, which was announced earlier in 2015 and would allow ships to access the Suez Canal via East Port Said, is due to be completed in June, 2016, according to gCaptain.
Mohab Memish, Head of the Suez Canal Authority, said: “We are building the side channel which will allow the ships to enter from open waters directly into East Port Said. There was a problem with the ships that enter East Port Said which have to wait between seven to 10 hours to enter the port.”
Memish added that 12 million containers are expected to pass through East Port Said by 2020 as a result of the new shipping channel.
The total cost to dredge the channel will be $36 million, including finance fronted by the Suez Canal Container Terminal, totalling $7.5 million.
The total cost of the project is anticipated to be around $60 million and will give vessels 24-hour access through the Mediterranean waterway via East Port Said.
The $8 billion Suez Canal, which was inaugurated in August, 2015, is anticipated to generate around $13 billion in annual revenue and significantly increasing shipping traffic.
