The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) and the Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT), which is 55 percent owned by Maersk’s APM Terminals, entered into an agreement on Wednesday to jointly upgrade the East Port Said through a USD 60 million-worth channel project.
The agreement settles the dispute between SCA and SCC regarding the management of the area of 225,000sqm located at the company’s southern border, which now falls within the jurisdiction of the canal authority.
The side-channel is scheduled to be dredged over seven months and is expected to become operational by the end of 2016.
According to SCA, the upgraded port and a new side canal will allow ships to immediately cross the East Port Said instead of waiting for seven hours.
Work is already underway to deepen the harbor to 20 meters and SCA added that digging operations of the new side channel will start next week.
The deal, signed between the Chairman of the SCA Mohab Mamish and the CEO of the SCCT Klaus Laursen, will be implemented in cooperation with the Armed Forces Engineering Authority.
When completed, the side channel would feature 9.5 km in length, 18.5 metres in depth, and 250 metres in width.
As reported by World Maritime News, the East Port Said side channel would allow smaller vessels in the Mediterranean a twenty-four hour access to the port instead of current eight-hour access.