Al-Wazir and Rabie discuss ways of joint cooperation to build an Egyptian fleet of bulk ships and auxiliary units

Lieutenant-General Kamel Al-Wazir: Achieving integration between “Transport” and “Suez Canal” is necessary to develop shipbuilding activity and supporting units

Lieutenant-General Osama Rabie: “The expansion of shipbuilding activity comes in implementation of President Sisi’s directives to maximize the benefit from the authority’s companies.”

In an implementation of the directives of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, the President of the Republic, to build an Egyptian fleet to transport Egyptian exports and imports, the team, Engineer Kamel Al-Wazir, Minister of Transport, and Lieutenant-General Osama Rabie, head of the Suez Canal Authority, discussed ways of joint cooperation between the Ministry of Transport and the Suez Canal Authority to build an Egyptian fleet of bulk ships and auxiliary units.

This came during an inspection tour of the Suez Shipyard Company, affiliated with the Suez Canal Authority, to follow up on the progress of work and see the results of the company’s comprehensive development plan.

Lieutenant-General Kamel Al-Wazir and Lieutenant-General Osama Rabie discussed during their meeting ways to implement the national project in cooperation between the Ministry of Transport and the Suez Canal Authority and the concerned authorities such as the Red Sea Ports Authority and in partnership with private sector companies, provided that the project is carried out under the supervision of one of the global consulting offices to meet the need to transport Egyptian exports and imports through Egyptian fleet of ships.

Lieutenant-General Engineer Kamel Al-Wazir, Minister of Transport, stressed the importance of achieving integration between the Ministry of Transport, the Suez Canal Authority, and the concerned authorities to develop shipbuilding activity in Egypt, whether in terms of building auxiliary marine units of tugs, boats, and others to cover the needs of various ports or building large bulk ships for use in transporting export trade. and Egyptian imports.

The Minister of Transport directed the preparation of a comprehensive feasibility study according to a time plan that includes defining the terms of reference, responsibilities, and the material cost of the project through a joint working team from the Ministry of Transport and the Suez Canal Authority.

On the other hand, Lieutenant-General Osama Rabie emphasize the authority’s keenness to maximize the benefit from its arsenals and subsidiaries, in the implementation of the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic, to diversify sources of income and preserve the authority’s assets as one of the priorities of the comprehensive development strategy pursued by the authority.

The head of the authority added that the Suez Maritime Shipyard Company has made great strides towards implementing the development plan through several parallel steps, including studying the expansion of shipbuilding activity, as well as adding new activities other than shipbuilding and repair activity such as underwater repair activity, in parallel with efforts to exploit assets The company to open new horizons for cooperation through partnerships with international companies and institutions.

After that, the Minister of Transport and the Chairman of the Authority went on an inspection tour of the Suez Shipyard, which included inspecting the shipyard and mechanical pits and following up on the maintenance and repair work that is carried out on both the floating dock and the dry dock in the company.

During his tour, the Minister of Transport was acquainted with the capabilities of the floating dock at the Suez Maritime Shipyard Company and the developments of maintenance and repair work that are currently taking place.

The company’s floating dock is classified as one of the largest floating docks in the Middle East. The dock is 302 meters long, 55 meters wide, and attached to giant side cranes. The dock can lift ships with a lifting load of 55,000 tons.

Then the head of the Suez Canal Authority reviewed the capabilities of the dry dock, which the company relies on to repair and maintain medium-sized ships.

The length of the dry dock is 140 meters, its width is 30 meters from the highest point and 23.5 meters from the lowest point, with a lifting capacity of 8000 tons, and equipped with 2 side winches.

At the end of the tour, Lieutenant-General Kamel Al-Wazir and Lieutenant-General Osama Rabie inspected the Ibrahimi port, the attached berths, and the movement tower building of the General Authority of Red Sea Ports.

It is worth noting that the Suez Maritime Shipyard Company is one of the oldest shipyards in the world. Its establishment dates back more than a century and a half to 1866.

The company has contributed to the implementation of many national projects, foremost of which is its participation in the manufacture of Bentons of the Floating Victory Bridge.

Contributing to the new Suez Canal project by implementing a number of buoys (navigational marks) and supplying 80 pontoons, in addition to manufacturing extrusion lines for dredgers and recently building a group of fishing vessels within the project to develop the Egyptian fishing fleet.