First ships cross Egypt's New Suez Canal in test-run
Less than two weeks prior to the official inauguration of the New Suez Canal, three container ships have made it across the new waterway earlier on Saturday as a test-run, Egypt’s state news agency MENA reported.
Under the patronage of the Egyptian army and president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the new waterway, an $US 8 billion mega-project that has been under construction since August 2014, is scheduled to be formally opened on August 6. “This is the first trial crossing but it will be followed by more trials,” Mohab Mameesh, the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority who led the project, told state television. “We are 99.2 percent done with everything. We should be completely done in two or three days.”
In order to avoid imposing unnecessary burdens on the impaired Egyptian economy, al-Sisi had announced in March the release of investment certificates that were available for purchase by Egyptian citizens to fund the mega-project.
The idea was met with grand enthusiasm, seeing the purchase of investment certificates worth approximately $US 7.6 billion, reported CNBC Arabia.
During the Saturday test-run, the New Suez Canal welcomed the passage of the first container ship at 10 a.m.
The American ship heading to Saudi Arabia from Egypt’s Port Said weighed 133,000 tonnes, while the second ship, a Danish one heading from Singapore to the United States was loaded with 95,000 tons of cargo. The third ship to make its way through the waterway was a Bahraini ship making its way from Saudi Arabia to Italy carrying a load of 77,000 tonnes.
Less than two weeks prior to the official inauguration of the New Suez Canal, three container ships have made it across the new waterway earlier on Saturday as a test-run, Egypt’s state news agency MENA reported.
Under the patronage of the Egyptian army and president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the new waterway, an $US 8 billion mega-project that has been under construction since August 2014, is scheduled to be formally opened on August 6. “This is the first trial crossing but it will be followed by more trials,” Mohab Mameesh, the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority who led the project, told state television. “We are 99.2 percent done with everything. We should be completely done in two or three days.”
In order to avoid imposing unnecessary burdens on the impaired Egyptian economy, al-Sisi had announced in March the release of investment certificates that were available for purchase by Egyptian citizens to fund the mega-project.
The idea was met with grand enthusiasm, seeing the purchase of investment certificates worth approximately $US 7.6 billion, reported CNBC Arabia.
During the Saturday test-run, the New Suez Canal welcomed the passage of the first container ship at 10 a.m.
The American ship heading to Saudi Arabia from Egypt’s Port Said weighed 133,000 tonnes, while the second ship, a Danish one heading from Singapore to the United States was loaded with 95,000 tons of cargo. The third ship to make its way through the waterway was a Bahraini ship making its way from Saudi Arabia to Italy carrying a load of 77,000 tonnes.