Egypt to inaugurate Suez canal expansion in August

Egypt will inaugurate a "new Suez canal" shipping route in August aimed at speeding up traffic along the existing waterway and boosting revenues, officials said June 13.

Dubbed the Suez Canal Axis, the new 72-kilometre (45 mile) project will run part of the way alongside the existing canal that connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.
 
It involves 37 kilometres of dry digging and 35 kilometres of expansion and deepening of the Suez Canal, in a bid to help speed up the movement of vessels.
 
"The digging and dredging operations will be completed on July 15," Suez Canal Authority chief Mohab Mameesh told reporters in the canal city of Ismailiya.
 
A ceremony will be held on August 6 to inaugurate the project, he said.
 
"Once the president inaugurates it, vessels will start moving through the new waterway," Mameesh said. He said 85 percent of the project that is being executed by the army has been completed so far.
 
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi launched the project in August and set an ambitious target of digging the new canal in one year.
 
The project is part of an ambitious plan to develop the zone around the canal into an industrial and commercial hub, that would include the construction of ports and provide shipping services.
 
"The entire project is Egyptian... the idea, the planning, and the funding" and will "once again put Egypt on the world investment map," said Mameesh.
 
Authorities raised $9 billion (7.9 billion euros) to build the new canal by selling shares in the project to domestic investors, with private Egyptian companies tasked with its construction.
 
The new canal is expected to more than double Suez revenues from $5.3 billion expected at the...