According to the Egyptian Marine Insurance Consultations & Services (EMICS), the Suez Canal Authority announced the imposition of new penalty fine up to $10.000 in certain cases, starting from April.
The SCA announced that if a representative of the SCA discovered that a vessel was deliberately withholding and/or has been negligent in reporting any defects in the ship’s devices, equipment, anchors and/or any other defects that may undermine the safety of navigation during the transit of the Canal, dues of $10.000 shall be applied.
This penalty fine is applied in addition to any other dues that may be applicable to such defect, as stated in the Suez Canal Rules of Navigation December 2020 edition. The aforementioned shall commence as of the 1st of April 2022.
At the same time, a project to expand parts of the Suez Canal is expected to be completed after two years of work in July 2023, according to the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).
As Reuters reports, the SCA announced accelerated plans to extend a second channel of the canal and to enlarge an existing channel after the Ever Given container ship ran aground and blocked the waterway for six days last year.
In addition to that, SCA plans to offer new financial incentives for ships that follow environmentally friendly standards. According to the Egyptian daily paper El Watan, citing a TV interview with SCA Chairman Osama Rabieh, ships that follow environmentally friendly standards will be benefitted by financial incentives, offered by the Suez Canal Authority.
