An unnecessary luxury: the Suez Canal will be expanded and deepened

The Suez Canal Authority has that Advertise.

Wider, deeper, double

On Saturday, the plans that had been shelved for some time were urgently launched. The section of the canal that contains the dual navigation canal will be extended by 10 kilometers.

In addition, the canal will be wider and deeper, at 30 kilometers. In width, 40 meters will be added, and the depth of the channel will be 2.4 meters.

Ship blocking

The Egyptian President demanded that the work begin immediately and complete it as soon as possible. It was not clear when exactly that would be.

Not surprisingly, work gets done extra quickly. In late March, the giant container ship Ever Geffen closed the canal for six days. As a result, no ship could pass either way.

This is costing the Egyptian treasury a lot of money. Every day there was no sailing, the Canal Authority lost about 12 million euros in toll revenue.

The ship is still at anchor

The ship is now anchored in one of the canal lakes. It will remain there until the Japanese shipping company and the Canal Authority agree on compensation.

The Egyptian authorities want to receive 493 million euros in fees from the shipping company. Including digging, dredging and towing costs incurred.

It is also possible that half of the compensation claimed will consist of reputational damage.

Total damage in billions

All this is insignificant compared to the total costs of the blockade. The obstruction may be before Damages ranging from 5 to 8 billion euros Because deliveries came too late, insurance company Allianz calculated.