Egypt,s Suez Canal Authority is considering a $1.2 billion program to deepen the canal from its current 53 ft draft to 67 ft.
This would allow laden tankers of as much as 250,000 dwt to pass through, compared with the current maximum of 150,000 dwt.
Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd., London, said distances on major trading routes are about halved by use of the Suez Canal vs. the route around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope. By linking the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, the canal provides a shortcut to vessels trading between east and west.
The Ras Tanura-Rotterdam round trip via the cape is 22,338 nautical miles. This is 76% longer than traveling through the Suez Canal, for which the distance is 12,698 nautical miles.
Ras Tanura-Houston is 28% longer via the cape at 25,000 nautical miles, compared with 19,512 through Suez. Yokahama-London via the cape is 31% longer-28,854 nautical miles, compared with 22,042 nautical miles through the Suez Canal. And the Sydney-Rotterdam round trip is 11% longer around the cape at 25,414 nautical miles vs. 22,966 miles through the canal.
Passage through the Suez Canal is tightly controlled. Vessels must travel in convoys organized each day and designed to regulate speed and distance between vessels. Drewry said a typical canal transit takes 12-18 hr, but waiting time can easily make the whole process 24-26 hr.
Two canal convoys travel south each day, while one goes north. A southbound group of as many as 45 vessels leaves Port Said at 1 a.m., while as many as 12 more come later at 7 a.m. A larger northbound run starts at 6:15 a.m. from Port Suez.
Most southbound traffic comes from the Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as Italy, Algeria, Libya, and increasingly the U. S.
Northbound traffic comes largely from the Middle East, and almost half of that is from Saudi Arabia.
The Suez Canal Authority recently set tolls to tempt traffic away from the cape route. Since the Persian Gulf war, however, operators prefer to send fully laden tankers around the cape at the expense of partly laden runs through the canal.
Drewry said the Suez Canal Authority is considering an additional package, perhaps with discounts of as much as 60% for some very large crude carriers.
In the meantime, the authority has invited bids for expansion of the southern end of the canal, which would enable laden tankers as large as 180,000 dwt to pass through. This would not commit the Egyptian government to the full expansion scheme but would save time if the larger project were approved.
Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
