Egypt opens its new Suez Canal and its ambitions – Le Figaro

COMPUTER GRAPHICS – The country’s authorities hope to increase the income they derive rights passing from 4.7 billion in 2015 € 11.7 billion in 2023

A shorter wait, a two-way traffic … Shippers rejoice. They may cross the Suez Canal in just 11 hours instead of 18 thanks to the new road constructed in record time and which is inaugurated on Thursday, August 6.

This new Suez Canal will allow soon the beginning of “traffic flow and save time,” explains Nicolas Sartini, director of Asia-Europe Lines, CMA CGM Group, the third largest container shipping company which transits 700 boats per year. This time saving will allow carriers to reduce some costs. A large ship which costs 46,000 euros per day should now be able to realize a savings of about 13,700 euros, said Nicolas Sartini.

Strategic Way between Asia and Europe, with a length of 193 km, the channel offers a great shortcut to maritime transport, thus avoiding around Africa by the Cape of Good Hope. Thereby enabling them to reduce significantly transportation costs. Without Suez, their path is extended by 7 to 10 days.

If there is an important, the channel is not provided vital. Its closing 1967 to 1975, after the Six-Day War, had certainly had particularly negative effects on international maritime trade. But companies had adapted. The oil companies, for example, had commissioned supertankers to convey larger amounts of oil in one load and remain competitive.

Today, there are about 18,000 ships each year who travel the Suez Canal. A traffic represents about 8% of international maritime trade against 5% for the Panama (Central America), according to estimates from CMA CGM.

The channel used to route all types of merchandise including from China and India. In 2013, 4.7% of petroleum products have passed through Suez or Sumed pipeline which also connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. Three types of boats pass through. The large container ships, tankers and bulk carriers carrying goods (grain, aggregates, sand)

97 boats per day

With construction of this new path, Egypt now wants to position itself in the long term. Today, about 49 boats each day borrow the channel. The authorities are betting on a doubling of traffic by 2023 that could allow the passage of 97 boats per day. The Egyptian authorities hope to increase revenue they derive rights of way 4.7 billion euros in 2015 € 11.7 billion in 2023.

Ambitious goal

This is an objective considered very ambitious. “It’s very difficult to say whether the government projection is accurate, says Amr Adly, an expert at the Carnegie Middle East Center. It depends on many other factors such as the expected growth in terms of international trade over the next decade, oil prices given that almost a third of what passes through the canal is oil from the Gulf to Europe. “The experts also remain cautious about the real impact of the new Suez Canal on the world maritime trade. “Channel Duplication does not necessarily mean that traffic will be doubled tomorrow,” emphasizes for its part Nicolas Sartini.