National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC), the UAE's leading dredging and marine construction company, has announced the completion of the New Suez Canal project following its successful trial run on Saturday (July 25).
A total of six container ships from around the world navigated the canal as part of the trial run toward ensuring its readiness for full-fledged operations. Three ships navigated the canal from Suez in the south and moved to the north, while three ships sailed from Port Said in the north toward the Mediterranean Sea in the south.
The trial run is an important step in achieving the objectives of the massive expansion project that aims to enhance the operational capabilities of Suez Canal to cope with the increasing traffic. A landmark project set to transform the Egyptian economy, the new canal will allow the passage of larger vessels, reduce waiting period and open up new revenues streams for the economy.
The National Marine Dredging Company led the Challenge Consortium that won the $1.5 billion project. The consortium included three of world's largest marine dredging companies including Boskalis and Van Oord from Netherlands and Jan de Nul from Belgium.
The construction works of executed by the consortium involved digging of 35 km of a new waterway to a depth of 24 meters and a width of 317 meters.
At the launch of the project, the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi directed the implementation period of the project be reduced from three years to one, presenting a huge challenge for NMDC and its consortium due to the sheer scale of work involved as well as the difficulties associated with management, manpower and logistics of the project.
Expressing his pride at the completion of the mega project in less than a year, Engineer Yasser Zaghloul, CEO, National Marine Dredging Company and Chairman of the Challenge Consortium, said the project would have a profound impact on the economic landscape of Egypt and its sustainable development process.