JAKARTA - The Suez Canal Authority, Egypt is asked to move quickly to improve technical infrastructure, if it is to avoid future shipping disruptions.
This was said by a source of the shipping industry, as the business of the world's main trade route tried to bounce back, after experiencing a closure for six days.
The international supply chain utilizing the Suez Canal fell apart on March 23. when the 400 meter (430 yard) container ship Ever Given ran aground in the canal, it took a specialist rescue team nearly a week to release it after extensive dredging and repeated towing operations.
Reflecting on Ever Given's 'liberation' operation, Head of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) Osama Rabie revealed that his party would get two new tugboats. One next week, while another in August. This includes the largest dredge from the Middle East and five new tugboats from China.
However, a shipping industry source revealed that specialist procedures and equipment have always struggled to keep up with the ever-increasing size of container ships.
"The average size of most vessels has increased exponentially over the last 15 years. The ability to save these larger ships still needs to be developed," marine insurance industry veteran Peter Townsend told Reuters.
SCA said the Suez Canal could safely be traversed by ships the size of Ever Given with a maximum capacity of 20,000 TEU, even in bad weather.
Industry sources said that in addition to larger tugs, dredgers and unloaders, stricter guidelines on vessel transit regulations are also needed. This includes the use of tugboats to assist large vessels, or only to allow transit during the day.
"Of course, there are many lessons to be learned from the (Ever Given) incident. Of course we have the capability," said Rabie of SCA.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also spoke up when visiting the Suez Canal last week.
"We have to send a strong message to the world that the Suez Canal, can transport world trade at this speed or more," he explained.
It is unclear whether the authorities will extend a second channel southward on the Suez Canal, which opened in 2015. The 70-kilometer channel costs US $ 8 billion.
This extension would allow ship traffic to continue unhindered, even if a ship ran aground on the Suez Canal.
"The expansion to the southern part of the canal can be considered. It's up to the technical people. We don't want to take action just because the situation is extraordinary," Sisi said.
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