New channel to Suez container terminal

New channel to Suez container terminal    A request for bids is expected by the end of the year for a new navigation channel that would give ships access to the Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT) independently of the convoys that traverse the Suez Canal.
   The Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm quotes Port Said Port Authority President Ibrahim Seddiq as saying the project is expected to cost 400 million Egyptian pounds ($70 million) and be completed by 2012.
   Robert Hambleton, chief commercial officer for SCCT, which is a joint venture company between APM Terminals, government, and other private interests, said the new channel would essentially give ships calling the terminal “a private drive” to the facility.
   Ships transiting the canal today must move in one of the two southbound convoys and one northbound convoy that traverse the waterway each day. Instead, ships would be able to use the new channel to independently call the facility without being in queue, giving the terminal additional flexibility in how to work vessels.
   Last year SCCT handled 2.7 million TEUs, 11 percent more than in 2009, and the company plans to increase capacity at the facility to 5.4 million TEUs by 2012.