The Suez Canal Authority and the Japanese Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd for engineering, electrical equipment, and electronics company, signed an agreement which includes preparing studies for establishing a new shipyard in Port Said to serve the ships passing through the canal, not limited to the development of the current shipyard in Port Said, chairperson of the authority Mohab Mamish revealed.
The new shipyard will not be limited to ship repair and shipbuilding—like the current one which only services Suez Canal marine equipment—but will rather serve investment as well, Mamish added during a meeting with MPs from the three canal cities: Suez, Port Said, and Ismailia.
He added that the new shipyard is expected to include two basins with a capacity of 400,000 tonnes and 320,000 tonnes as a new way to generate revenue.
The Suez Canal Authority completed 20% of El-Raswa Bridge in Port Said for transporting goods, with investments worth EGP 120m-140m.
The Cape of Good Hope is not competing with the Suez Canal in a major way in the wake of the decline in oil prices, Mamish said.
The canal attracted 115 ships from October 2015 to February 2016, representing 0.6% of the 18,500 ships passing through the canal annually.
Mamish denied that the Suez Canal revenue declined during the first quarter of this year, pointing out that revenue increased to $1.2398bn, compared to $1.2369bn year-over-year, an increase of 0.2%. This is in addition to its Euro increase to €1.11258bn compared to €1.0993bn year-over-year with 2.4% growth rate.
