Suez Canal Economic Zone Expansion

Dr. Ahmed Darwish, Chairman of the Suez Canal General Authority Economic Zone (SCZone) was hosted by the Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT) as he toured the expansion projects underway at Port Said East, which includes the construction of 5,000 meters of new quay.

SCCT, at the mouth of the Suez Canal in Port Said East, is one of the largest container ports on the Mediterranean Sea providing 2,400 meters of quay and an annual container throughput capacity of 5.4 million TEUs. SCCT General Manager Jan Buijze emphasized the Ultra-large Container Ship (ULCS) handling capabilities provided by the recently upgraded SCCT, and  APM Terminals’ intention to continue developing its capacities and modernizing its equipment to help Port Said East to become a global container handling hub. APM Terminals is the majority shareholder in SCCT, which includes COSCO and the Suez Canal Authority as joint venture partners.

Dr. Darwish stated during his presentation that the SCZone General Authority has developed a vision for the Suez Canal zone to become one of the largest seven investment zones worldwide by 2030, using state-of-the-art technology and employing on the latest methods in projects implementation and management. Dr. Darwish concluded his remarks by noting Egypt's hope that the Suez Canal Zone would create thousands of new job opportunities for Egyptian youths, and to effectively contribute to improving economic conditions for all Egyptians.

SCCT officially opened in December of 2004 and has continued to invest in expansion and infrastructure to accommodate Egypt’s growing role in international trade. The Suez Canal completed an expansion in August 2015 which enables two-way traffic for vessels, shortening transit times, and increasing potential traffic, and in November 2016 opened a new access channel to Port Said East enabling 24-hour access to the port. SCCT is the only facility in Egypt able to accommodate ULCS of 15,500 TEU capacity and above. Current container throughput at SCCT is approximately 3 million TEUs annually.