The new Suez Canal development project will reduce ships’ waiting time and the economic costs of sailing, economic adviser at the Suez Canal Authority Abdel-Tawab Youssef said.
The new project will also allow fully-loaded oil tankers and dry bulk carriers to pass the waterway, Youssef told MENA.
It will also raise the number of passing ships, which means an increase in the canal’s revenues, he said.
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi attended on Tuesday morning the inauguration of the waterway to be dug alongside the Suez Canal. It is meant to add an extra lane to the Suez Canal, one of the world's most important thoroughfares for trade, in an attempt to increase the number of ships using it each day.
The Suez Canal, which allows ships to travel from Europe to Asia without passing through southern Africa, only provides for one-way traffic, with occasional room for ships to pass each other. The new lane would allow ships to travel in both directions.
Source: MENA