A unique transit process : The latest ENERGEAN POWER LNG production and storage unit safely crosses the Suez Canal
Admiral Osama Rabie: “I do not need the Suez Canal in supporting the stability of global supply chains during crises.”
Admiral Osama Rabie, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, announced today, Friday, the success of the first crossing of its kind in the history of the canal of a floating unit for the production, processing, and storage of liquefied natural gas (FPSO) by crossing the newest unit in the world ENERGEAN POWER within the convoy of the south, by towing and directing it with four locomotives Affiliated to the authority and guided by a team that includes a group of senior authority guides and tugboats during its first sea voyage after its inauguration in Singapore, heading to the Mediterranean.
The process of crossing the unit ENERGEAN POWER of the company “Energen International” is one of the unconventional crossing experiences, and the largest unit that crosses the channel is a trailer with a draft of more than 18.5 meters, which necessitated its crossing to take complex navigational arrangements and measures over several days due to the nature of the floating unit, which has a length of 227 meters Its width is 59 meters, with a total load of 92,680 tons, and its height from the surface of the water is 69.5 meters, which depends on the diameter only to direct and move it, which requires careful attention to the direction of the locomotives and studying the movement and direction of air and water currents to maintain their position in the middle of the channel during its journey.
The arrangements and procedures for the crossing of the canal began with the request of the shipping agency GULF EGYPT to cross the ENERGEAN POWER unit of the Suez Canal, and then the team directed Osama Rabie to study the request by the navigation experts at the Navigation Control Center in the authority and coordinate with the work team, which included 9 guides from the authority’s senior guides, and 9 captains Locomotives during several meetings at the Naval Simulation and Training Center of the Authority, followed by an on-the-ground inspection upon the arrival of the floating unit under the Suez Canal,
in parallel with the logistical procedures for supplying fuel to the two locomotives accompanying the unit belonging to BOSKALIS company.
The crossing journey inside the canal lasted for about 26 hours and began with the arrival of the ENERGEAN POWER unit at the Suez Canal, where the chief guide and captain of a rescue locomotive belonging to the authority boarded the BOKA SHERBA driving locomotive, which is the locomotive accompanying the tank.
The tank is tied from the front third of the two locomotives “Swiss 1” and “Swiss 2” and then tied from the back for rudder and steering work on the two locomotives belonging to the authority “Masaed 1” and “Masaed 5”.
Preparation for the crossing necessitated the work of a set of naval maneuvers to test the appropriate speed and determine the impact of the waves and wind speed so that the floating unit began to cross at five o’clock in the morning yesterday,
Thursday, from the Suez draft, accompanied by the submersible guide, to carry out the guiding process after that, a working group consisting of three pilots and four captains of locomotives Until reaching the Ismailia sector at eleven o’clock in the evening, when the guides and locomotive captains in the Ismailia sector were replaced by three guides and four other locomotive captains to rotate the process of crossing the unit until its exit from the Port Said submersible accompanied by 2 of the Port Said submersible guides on Friday at twelve o’clock in the afternoon.
On the other hand, Admiral Osama Rabie, Chairman of the authority, confirmed that the Suez Canal succeeded in achieving the difficult equation for its customers by providing safe transit for different types and generations of ships and marine units, whether crossing it required taking traditional or unusual measures in parallel with achieving the maximum possible savings for the economies of the journey compared to alternative ways so that the Suez Canal remains the choice. Optimized, fastest, and safest.
The General Manager of Energean International in Egypt Nicolas KATCHAROV valued the full support provided by the authority in all stages of crossing the FPSO unit and the cooperation of the work team of the pilots and locomotive captains affiliated with the authority so that the Suez Canal joined this successful cooperation to the list of success partners that the company enjoys in Egypt, especially in the sector Petroleum, and in this context, thanked the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources for its keenness to support the company’s activities in Egypt.
The official spokesman for the Suez Canal Authority George Safwat stated
