Latest News Details

	Date	Details
	2007.04.04	DST - Daylight saving time For detailed information on DST for countries around the word see this useful site: http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst2007a.html
	2007.04.04	Forthcoming hollidays in Egypt. April 9th, Easter Monday April 25th, Sinai Liberation Day May 1st, Labour Day June 18th, Evacuation Day July 23rd, Revolution Day October 6th, Army Forces day October 12th, Eve of Biaram Oct 13-15th, Bairam Holiday December 19th, Eve of 2nd Bairam Dec 20-23rd, 2nd Bairam October 24th, Suez City Liberation Day December 23rd, Victory day
	2006.09.14 11:29	Suez Canal re-opened. Container vessel re-floated Finally it seems that the Suez Canal has re-opened. The container vessel which previously was reported grounded at KM 76, 0530hrs this morning, was re-floated at 1010hrs. The Suez Canal should therefore be up and running again, however minor delays are expected. The dredger which sunk yesterday has been moved from its position, away from the deep draft passage, thus allowing vessels with draft up to 62 feet to transit again. Its present position is marked with bouys. Meanwhile, when passing this area we have learned that SCA requires 'experined pilots only'. It goes without saying that such a logistic challenge also might cause some delays. The Suez Canal Authorities have not made any official announcement in this respect.
	2006.02.08 21:40	Grounded vessel now re-floated. The grounded vessel, MV “OOCL QINGDAO” has been re-floated at 2010hrs LT today. All the vessels in today’s north and southbound convoy will resume their transit. Anticipated delay is set to 8 hours. There is no information from local authorities if this incident will affect tomorrow’s convoys, however we expect that there will be small delay. Meanwhile, please note that the weather conditions have not improved.
	2006.02.08 16:00	Grounding in the Suez Canal at KM 78.5 north of Suez today, 8th of February 2006, at 1240hrs LT. Please note that the container vessel, M/V "OOCL QINGDAO" has grounded today north of Suez at KM 78.5. The vessel was in position no 2 of today's northbound convoy and had 22 vessels behind her. The reason for the grounding has not yet been given however the weather conditions in the Canal area are very poor for the time being. Low visibility and heavy winds have been reported. No prospects for the grounded vessel or adverse weather conditions have been advised by the local authorities at this time. Northbound convoy ---------------- 1- cscl africa ( passed ) 2- oocl qing dao ( grounding ) Following vessels are locked behind the grounded vessel: 3- msc stella 4- bow flower 5- sunniva 6- gimi 7- ns capitan 8- blumenau 9- su oh 10- sagittarius leader 11- kyoto express 12- mol solution 13- hatsu shine 14- ym rotterdam 15- carinthia vii 16- cma cgm egypt 17- hua yun he 18- sider sea 19- ben aicha 20- montenero 21- kn trader 22- holland klipper 23- montana sun 24- cec courage 25- cypress trail Southbound convoy no. 1 ------------------ Following vessels are waiting at Great Bitter Lake: 1- ALMUTANNABI 2- EVER UINOUE 3- MSC BEIJIN 4- HANJIN CAIRO 5- DUKHAN 6- CMA CGM EIFFEL 7- STAR ATLANTIC 8- HEMINA 9- AGHINA MARKELLA 10- KOTA PELAGI 11- IRAN ZANJAN 12- PONORMOS TRADER 13- BUNGA MELATI 4 14- SOFIE MAERSK 15- INDAMEX GODAVARI 16- HOPE STAR 17- HANJIN VALENCIA 18- ASTRO CYGNUS Following vessels are waiting at El Ballah bypass: 1- BUNGA RAYA DUA 2- PONL TASMAN 3- AMORITO 4- LARYMNA 5- VASSILIKI F 6- HUMBER BRIDGE 7- PUSAN SENATOR 8- NCC JOUF 9- STOLT COURAGE We will keep this page updated.
	2005.09.22 12:00	SCA imposing tug for vessels carrying explosives and weapons. Please be informed that the Suez Canal Authorities (SCA) have decided to impose escorting tug(s) for vessels loaded with dangerous cargo based on Suez Canal Rules of Navigation of February 1995, Art 55, para 3 and Art 57, para 1 claiming 'the safety of ship and canal against threats and terrorist attacks in the light of the present world situation'. According to Art 55, para 3 SCA claims all rights to apply its rules of navigation to keep Suez Canal safe and secure. SCA does not specify what type of cargo 'Dangerous Cargo' covers, put there is no doubt that explosives and weapons are within these rules. Container vessels are exempted from this regulation. General cargo vessels carrying containers containing dangerous cargo will be assessed 'case by case'. We have also, verbally been informed, that one tug will be imposed, if the amount of dangerous cargo is less than 50% of the total shipment. If the dangerous cargo exceeds 50 %, SCA will impose two tugs. The Art. in question in SCA Rules of Navigation are: http://www.lethsuez.com/Rules_Of_Navigation/ron_frames.htm Art. 55, para. 3 Art. 57, para. 1 The estimated cost of imposed tug is approx Usd 25.000 as per below, based on the SDR rate of 13th September amounting to 1.468. However, the actual figure will be shown on the final transit invoice available within few weeks after transit: SCA Circular 03/2004 http://www.lethsuez.com/SCA_Circulars/SCA_frames.htm The Suez Canal Authority has decided to amend some items of article one of circular no. 10/94 as follows: 1. Amending item 10 of First (fees) to read as follows: 10) the rental value of escorting tugs shall be a unified rate of SDR 8000 2. Adding to item 2 of second: (Rentals) the following: *)The rental value of the imposed tugs from the Canal entry till exit is a unified rate of SDR 17000 per a complete trip. This circular shall take effect as of 15/12/2004 According to Eng. Ahmed Moustafa, Director of Transit Department, SCA are presently reviewing Rules of Navigation with respect to the articles concerning escort and imposed tugs. He expect this work to be finalized and published within 2 months.
	2004.11.10 16:30	Normal traffic tomorrow. Traffic will run as normal from tomorrow AM. i.e. normal convoy system.
	2004.11.10 09:30	About grounding in the Canal: Status update. As previously advised, traffic in the Suez Canal has resumed yesterday 9th November, after a 3 days shutdown due to the MT Tropic Brilliance agrounding. All vessels which had been captured inside the Canal have now all exited and SCA have started taking in the lined ups at Suez and Port Said. About 40 vessels started from Suez early today and last vessel entered 06.30 hrs local time. 11 deep drafted vessels are waiting at Suez for further instructions from SCA. About 80 vessels began their Suez passage from Port Said this morning at 04.30 hrs local time and till now 11.30 hrs local time, approximately 45 vessels have entered. Traffic is expected to get back to normal by tomorrow 11th of November.
	2004.11.09 18:00	About grounding in the Canal: Status update. The southbound group of 14 vessels have passed Lake Timsah and the two vessels there have resumed their northbound transit, approximately at 1715hrs LT. Both are expected to clear from Port Said around Midnight. The Great Bitter Lake group has resumed their transit at 1830hrs LT and the first vessel here is expected to exit around 0130hrs LT. Each of the 46 vessels are moving with 9kn/14km/H and there is 7 minutes between each vessel. Subsequently, we expect the last vessel to clear Port Said around 0700hrs LT on the 10th of November. The 14 southgoing vessels are expected to exit Suez later tonight. Northbound convoy from Suez will start at approximately 23.00 hrs. First southbound convoy will start 07.00 from Port Said.
	2004.11.09 11:00	About grounding in the Canal: Canal reopened. First vessel of 14 has resumed its transit southbound from El Ballah bypass at km 55. There are 2 vessels in Lake Timsah and 46 in Great Bitter Lake. These vessels will most probably resume its northbound transit once the last transit of the 14 of the Southbound group has passed.
	2004.11.09 09:00	About grounding in the Canal: Towage of Tropic Brilliance started 10.20 hrs. Once vessel has anchored safely at 61 Km the SCA will resume the traffic and we believe the 14 vessels anchored at El Balla by-pass will start transiting. Still this is not confirmed by the Authorities.
	2004.11.09 08:00	About grounding in the Canal: Tropic Brilliance has been refloated. We have been informed that Tropic Brilliance has been refloated 08.20 and will be towed to Km 61 where vessel will be anchored. Suez Canal Authority will most probably start the convoy with the vessels anchored in Bitter Lake.
	2004.11.08 17:50	Lightering operation is proceeding as scheduled and are hopefully completed within the next 24 hours. Reference is made to our previous message (see below) and newsletter regarding the agrounding of M/T 'Tropical Brilliance'/IMO 9000596 at KM 73. The scheduled lightering operation is proceeding succesfully. In addition to M/T 'Al Nabila 4'/IMO 8006426 which already has arrived to the site, the barge 'Karnak' has all morning been receiving crude oil from the suezmax, however only up to 5000 tons. Meanwhile, the barge will complete shortly and 'Al Nabila 4' will be taking over and discharge 18,000 tons. The re-floating operation will then proceed. Depending on pumping and intake of the two vessels our best guess is at this moment, that the traffic will be resumed by Tuesday night, however we must emphasize that this is not confirmed. This web page will be updated as soon as we have further information.
	2004.11.08 09:30	Suez Canal closed due to grounding. Due to an agrounding of the Suezmax MT Tropical Brilliance/IMO 9000596 at 73KM(just north of Ismalia) all traffic have been suspended in the Suez Canal. About 135 vessels (90 northbound and 45 southbound) are captured in the area. Northbound vessels have been entering the Canal both yesterday and today. These vessels are either on their way to or have already anchored up in Great Bitter Lake. The capacity here is said to be (unconfirmed) approximately 130 vessels. The southbound vessels have all stopped between Port Said and El Ballah by-pass. The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) have tried to re-float the vessel however so far without succes. Subsequently, SCA have decided to make a lightering operation and MT Al Nabila 4/IMO 8006426 (dwt 27841) should arrive alongside around 1630hrs this afternoon. The plan is to pump out 20,000 crude oil hopefully allowing the tug boats to pull her out of the sand. Duration of the operation is of course all depending on pumping/intake capacity of the two vessels. This web page will be updated as soon as we have further information.
	2004.08.15	Vessels carrying military equipment Reminder from SCA: quote It has been noticed that some shipmasters, on board ships that carry military equipment or ships that belong to military authorities, often try not to declare adequate information to the SCA admeasurement officials. or sometimes pretend that they do not know the kind of cargo on-board the SCA requests agents of such ships to instruct the said masters to cooperate with the SCA admeasurement officials and declare adequate information on what they have on-board, failure to do so will make the ships subject to a surcharge of 25% that can not de refunded even if details of the cargo were made available , as documents presented after transit are usually disregarded. in case the ship masters present false information the ship will be subject to a fine as stated in the Suez Canal rules of navigation, artcle 15 (F). page 45 dir. of transit eng. Galal Abdel Latef El Deeb unquote
	2003.03.06	Eastern branch cleared Fyg the vessel grounded in the entrance of the canal at the eastern branch is refloated at 12.55 HRS today and eastern branch is cleared now.
	2003.03.06	Eastern branch closed M/T''TENAGA SATU'' SOUTHBOUND Fyg above vessel grounded in the entrance of the canal at the eastern branch when she was entering this morning with N1 convoy. Despite of that SCA succeeded to let all vessels in N1 and N2 convoy into the canal smoothly. SCA trying now to float the vessel. At this moment this grounding seems not to have restricted the canal traffic either for the north- nor the southbound convoys.
	2003.02.27	follwing received from SCA quote we would like to keep you aware that due to recent conditions which get the SCA measurement officials unable to board commercial warships hired by the ministries of defence ( as required by embassies) , the following rules of measurements will be effective:- 1- for vessels that previously passed the canal , the S.C dues will be imposed according to the highest tonnage as stipulated in the vessel's file 2- for vessels passing the canal for the first time, dues will be imposed according to vessel's gross tonnage 3- for heavy lift commercial vessels, dues will be imposed according to an extra surcharge of 50% ( i.e 150%) totally to protect the egyptian monied resource, all the above mentioned estimations will be considered as irrevocable and incorrigible please be informed and act accordingly yours faithfully sca transit director unquote
	2003.02.21	According to our information the SCA have been approached by the US and British Embassies in order to avoid vessels staying at El Ballah By-Pass (2nd Southbound convoy). Thus, we have been informed that until further notice vessels chartered by the British or US Navy or vessels fully loaded with military equipment arriving after deadline at 2200hrs but before the convoy ends (normally between 04-0500hrs) will be treated as Navy vessels and will join the 1.st convoy against the extra charge of 5 % as per standard regulations. All other vessels incl. vessels carrying only part of cargo with military equipment, will be treated 'normally'. However, vessels partly loaded with military equipment are offered the option to join the 1.st convoy even after 'deadline' at 2200hrs. However, SCA maintain their right to evaluate each transit case by case and if the traffic allows.