On Tuesday, December 25, 6 highly trained and well experienced pilots and 5 large tugs of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) carried out one of the most difficult transits this year as they navigated a giant floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit through the canal.
The vessel’s trip was within the southbound convoy as she was heading from Italy to Dubai, through the new Suez Canal where special navigational aids are provided and the route is clear of severe curves.
Upon directives from Admiral Mohab Mamessh, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, and Chairman of Suez Canal Economic Zone, all measures and arrangements that guarantee the safe and secure passage of the vessel were provided.
The vessel ‘FIRENZE FPSO’ is an offshore Support Vessel, built in 1989, and sails under the flag of Italy, with overall length of 268m, beam 42.5m, total deadweight 90, 000 tons , gross tonnage 59,000 ton, and with a draught of 8.5 m.
Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority reaffirmed the Canal’s readiness for accommodating current and next generations of all types of vessels, which even becomes more feasible after the success of the project of the New Suez Canal that developed and promoted the capacity of the navigational waterway.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
According to SCA, the Canal registered the passage of 55 vessels from both directions with total gross tonnage of 4.1 million tons, 30 of which were southbound vessels with gross tonnage of 2.3 million tons and 25 were northbound vessels of 1.8 million tons gross tonnage capacity.
Furthermore, the waterway registered the passage as well of 8 big vessels each of above 150,000 gross tonnage capacity, while it registered the transit of two vessels of the category of 100,000 to 150,000 gross tonnage capacity.
The largest vessel of the southbound convoy was ‘CMA CGM LOUIS BLERIOT’, flag of Malta. This is one of the largest container ships in the world of gross tonnage of 227,000 tons, heading from Spain to Dubai, while the largest of the northbound convoy was MSC LIVORNO, German flag, with gross tonnage of 157, 000 tons heading from Singapore to Egypt.
