Cairo: A giant construction project is set to kick off this week along the Suez Canal. A 34 km slice of the canal will be widened and deepened over a number of years to shorten the waiting period for vessels in the lakes area of the canal, the local Al-Ahram reported.
The news comes as the Suez Canal Authority has recently announced record volumes moving along the waterway in the year to date. Once complete, the enlarged canal will bring annual revenues of $13.5bn by 2023.
On a typical day, three convoys transit the canal, two southbound and one northbound. At present, the passage takes between 11 and 16 hours at a speed of around 8 knots. [28/07/14]
