Many shippers still remember the 2021 stranding of the Ever Given in the Suez Canal. The months-long congestion took a toll on them, and there were calls from the industry to widen the canal. Now that wish is about to come true.

According to relevant media reports, the Egyptian Suez Canal Authority said on February 17 that the government will extend the two-way channel of the Suez Canal by nearly 10 kilometers, and at the same time widen and deepen a section of the waterway of about 30 kilometers.

The chairman of the Canal Authority, Osama Rabiye, said that if the Suez Canal is to be widened in its entirety, it will cost a huge amount of money, and it seems unrealistic at present. So now only the two-way channel can be extended.

In the previous old channel, the length was about 193 kilometers and it was a one-way channel. In 2015, Egypt opened a new canal about 72 kilometers long in the northern section of the old canal. This greatly shortens the waiting time for navigation.

Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, said there will be little change in the timing of the passage of ships after the widening of the canal. But the safety of passing through the canal is greatly increased, which means that the probability of the ship running aground will be reduced.

In fact, in addition to the above-mentioned changes, the project also plans to widen the waterway from Daku Lake in the southern section of the canal to Suez City, which is about 30 kilometers long, by 40 meters to the east, and the maximum depth is increased to 22 meters.

Rabie said the expansion project is expected to take two years and a total investment of nearly 3 billion Egyptian pounds.

The Suez Canal is 172.5 kilometers long and is located in today's northeastern Egypt and the western side of the Sinai Peninsula. It connects the Mediterranean Sea in the north and the Red Sea in the south. It is an international shipping waterway with the most economic value and strategic position in the world today.

Among all the sea canals in the world today, the Suez Canal ranks first in terms of freight volume and other aspects.