DENMARK's AP Moller-Maersk is considering whether to invest US$83 million in the construction of a proposed new navigational channel at Port Said's Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT), according to the Egyptian Ministry of Transport, reports UK's Port Technology International.

Situated at the mouth of the Suez Canal on the Mediterranean Sea, the terminal is being expanded in a Phase II development project, to double capacity from 2.7 million TEU to 5.4 million TEU per annum.

APM Terminals, part of the same Danish shipping conglomerate, holds 55 per cent in SCCT, a private joint venture that began operations in 2004.

The Phase II expansion project will also double the quay length from 1,200 metres to 2,400 metres, deepen the terminal's draft to 16 metres, and will equip the terminal with an extra 12 super-post Panamax cranes, which will bring the number of such cranes at the facility to 24.