The Suez Canal begins dredging works to extend two copies

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has begun work on extending a duplicate that would allow traffic in both directions in a section close to where the giant cargo ship ran aground for six days in March.

The Securities and Commodities Authority announced this week that it plans to extend the canal’s second runway, which opened in 2015, with a width of 82 km, by 10 km, while continuing to expand and deepen the extension of one lane at the southern end of the canal.

The Securities and Commodities Authority said today, Saturday, that the work began on the orders of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi “to immediately start implementing the proposed development plan, and thus set a timetable for its completion as soon as possible.”

The impediment created by the 440-meter cargo ship in the southern part of the canal between March 23 and 29 delayed hundreds of ships at sea, cutting off global trade.

Ever Given, still loaded with thousands of containers, is trapped in Great Bitter Lake, between two stretches of the canal, amid a dispute over a lawsuit by SCA against the boat’s owner, Japanese company Shoei Kisen.