Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has urged the consolidation of Suez Canal Authority’s projects to pursue its strategy for developing the waterway, its navigation course and all other utilities so as to promote the competitiveness and unique position of the canal in the global trade movement.
The president’s remarks came during a meeting he called on Monday with head of the Suez Canal Authority Osama Rabie to review SCA performance and activities throughout this year, Presidency Spokesman Ambassador Bassam Radi said.
During the meeting, the president was briefed on the rates of navigation in the Suez Canal as Rabie reviewed indicators of the navigation activity in the canal since the beginning of this year until now, including the number of passing ships and the volume of cargo and containers.
The Suez Canal last month witnessed the achievement of the largest and cargo load in transit and the highest revenues in the history of the authority, Rabie noted in a briefing to the president during the meeting.
President Sisi also reviewed the SCA’s efforts to develop its energy system, including the plan to use renewable energy from wind and solar energy to illuminate monitoring stations along the course of the canal.
The head of the authority also presented the new scheme of transit fees for ships, scheduled to go into effect as of the start of next February, as well as the projected return from the scheme as it came in line with the expectations of specialised international institutions regarding the growth rates of the global economy and global oil prices.
Aspects of the Suez Canal’s participation in Expo Dubai 2020, including various activities and events to promote the canal and its economic zone were contained in SCA chairman’s presentation during the meeting.
The presentation also covered the authority’s efforts to develop its marine fleet, including tugs, dredgers, pilot boats, pollution control departments, fishing boats and fuel tankers, as well as efforts to develop the southern sector of the navigation course of the canal with a length of 40km.
Rabei then outlined the SCA’s efforts to fulfill its international environmental responsibility as the canal will allocate incentives to operators of transiting ships, based on their contributions to preserving the environment by reducing carbon emissions, with the aim of encouraging ships to use liquefied natural gas and low carbon-emitting fuels.
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