In line with the political leadership’s directives to support the capabilities of Suez Canal to enhance the security of the waterway and achieve comprehensive development of the canal’s maritime fleet, Suez Canal Authority and the Alexandria Shipyard signed a contract for the supply of two salvage tugboats, at the headquarters of Suez Canal Authority in Ismailia, in the presence of Admiral Osama Rabie, Chairman of Suez Canal Authority, and Admiral Ashraf Attwa, Commander of the Navy Forces. The two salvage tugboats will have a length of 71.6 meters, a width of 18.5 meters, a speed of 16 knots, and a bollard pull of 190 tons and it can operate independently for up to 35 days.
They will be designed by the Norwegian company Kongsberg Maritime and will be able to work as long-range towing vessels in the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea. The tugboats will be built according to the latest global technology in the field of advanced marine tugboat design. The Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, Admiral Osama Rabie, emphasized the importance of this contract in the light of the authority’s efforts to develop and update its maritime fleet and support it with the latest marine units. He expressed his aspiration to localize the industry of offshore support vessels in Egypt, with the accumulated experiences of the national shipyards and the adoption of the latest technological standards in this field. Meanwhile, Admiral Ashraf Attwa, Commander of the Naval Forces, expressed his unlimited support for the Suez Canal Authority, considering it an integral part of the Egyptian national security, praising the capabilities and capacities of Alexandria Shipyard in light of its development and upgrade during the past period to build and manufacture such giant tugboats that can perform all the tasks assigned to them efficiently and effectively.
This comes within the framework of the General Command of the Armed Forces’ keenness to achieve integrated cooperation with all national bodies and institutions to rely on the efforts of Egyptians in achieving Egyptian leadership in all fields.
Rear Admiral Hossam El-Din Ezzat Kotb, Alexandria Shipyard’s chairman, confirms that the company’s award of the contract to build and supply these tugboats for the Suez Canal Authority was the fruit of a very hard competition with the world’s leading companies and shipyards in the field of construction of this kind of tugboats He also added that this win is a declaration of confidence nationsl shipbuilding industry within the Arab Republic of Egypt. He also mentioned that the construction of these tugs by Alexandria Shipyard will represent a technological breakthrough for the company, as these tugs are the strongest in the world of navigation. This will result in raising the rating of Alexandria Shipyard among the leading shipyards in the world, and will attract more foreign contracts in order to increase the company’s investment and hard currency resources within Egypt.
Jørn Heltne, The Vice President for Sales and Contracts at Kongsberg Maritime, stated: “The equipment and systems we are providing will ensure these tugs have trustworthy and precise handling and control, as well as the muscle needed to keep the Suez Canal open. The Authority recognises the need for increased salvage capacity at the canal, which sees about 70 vessels transit each day and is responsible for about 12% of global trade by volume.”
Lisa Edvardsen Haugan, President of Kongsberg Maritime, said: “We are proud that Kongsberg’s marine technology will be one of the supporting forces to the Suez Canal Authority by collaborating with Alexandria Shipyardin building these two tugs,” adding, “Congratulations to our team and Alexandria Shipyard on winning this very important contract.”
It is worth noting that Alexandria Shipyard is one of the largest heavy industries edifices and one of the leading shipbuilding and repair shipyards in Africa and the Middle East. It recently succeeded in building state of the art corvettes with unprecedented success and has already delivered them to the Egyptian Navy.