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The head of the Suez Canal Authority Osama Rabie announced that navigation movement in the canal recorded on Saturday the highest daily transit rate of transiting ships in the history of the canal, with 89 ships crossing from both directions without waiting carrying a total net tonnage of 5.2 million tons.
“The number of ships transiting the canal from the north direction amounted to 44 ships with a net tonnage of three million tons, while 45 ships crossed from the south direction in the new navigational course of the canal with a total net tonnage of 2.2 million tons,” he explained.
Daily transit rates through the Suez Canal witnessed a significant increase after the opening of the new Suez Canal project, he said, where the average daily transit of ships transiting the canal increased from 48 ships before the new canal project to 62 ships currently.
The head of the authority confirmed that the record numbers reached by the navigation movement in the canal would not have been achieved without the new Suez Canal project.
He explained that the project succeeded in increasing the capacity of the canal and raising its efficiency to receive the current and future generations of giant ships with huge tonnages and large draughts, which the global shipyards are moving towards building to take advantage of the economies of scale.
Projects to develop the navigational course of the Suez Canal topped the priorities of the work agenda during the last period, he said, the most recent of which was the project to develop the southern sector of the canal, which is proceeding at an accelerated pace according to the specified schedule due to great interest in the matter from the political leadership.