Lieutenant General Osama Rabie, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, announced the readiness of the Suez Canal to receive giant container ships. This came during his inspection of the navigation movement in the canal from aboard the giant container ship CMA CGM JULES VERNE on its sea voyage through the canal as part of the southern convoy coming from Singapore and heading to Lebanon, after safely crossing the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab region. The voyage is the first for the ship belonging to the French shipping line CMA CGM from the south via Bab al-Mandab, and the third for it through the canal, as it returns to cross the canal again since its last two voyages from the north during this year on June 20 last and then last September 20 after applying the incentives.
The ship is 396 meters long, 53.6 meters wide, and has a draft of 11.5 metres, with a total load. 176 thousand tons.
During his presence on board the ship, Lieutenant General Osama Rabie, Chairman of the Authority, was keen to welcome the ship’s crew and learn about their impressions of transit through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab region, and the level of navigational services provided by the canal, where he was received by Tariq Zaghloul, CEO of the CMA CGM Group in Egypt and Sudan, and Amr El-Shafi’i, Director of the Company’s Operations Sector. The Chairman of the Authority also followed the crossing of the container ship CMA CGM HELIUM on its first sea voyage through the canal as part of the southern convoy coming from Singapore and heading to Alexandria. The Authority provides navigational aids from the accompanying tugs, in addition to real-time follow-up from the main traffic office and guidance stations located along the canal. The Chairman of the Authority praised the extended strategic relations between the Suez Canal and the French shipping line CMA CGM, which was reflected in the group’s keenness to continue the transit of its ships through the canal despite the security challenges in the Red Sea region, and then its initiative to transit two ships of the category of large container ships after the success of the Sharm El-Sheikh summit, followed by what the canal is witnessing today in the crossing of two of the group’s container ships, including one of the largest ships belonging to the group, CMA CGM JULES VERNE, and the group’s newest ships. CMA CGM HELIUM in a certificate that reflects the importance of the Suez Canal as the shortest, fastest and safest navigational route. Lieutenant General Osama Rabie explained that the return of calm once again to the Red Sea region will impose a new reality on the shipping community, with the need for shipping lines to think seriously about amending sailing schedules in order to return to crossing through Bab al-Mandab and the Suez Canal again. Or a partial return of some ships, or a complete return in several stages. For his part, Captain Slavko Malasic, the ship’s captain, expressed his happiness with the crossing of the Suez Canal, stressing the CMA CGM Group’s keenness to use the Suez Canal in its sea voyages to the Far East, noting in this regard that the group’s ships did not face any challenges during their transit in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab region, as evidenced by the passage today of two container ships belonging to the group through the canal without any problems.
The captain also praised CMA CGM JULES VERNE praised the canal development projects, especially the southern sector development project, which succeeded in increasing navigational safety rates and reducing waiting and crossing hours, making crossing the canal easier and safer, hoping that things will return to normal in the near future.
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- Source of information and images “rosaelyoussef”“
