CAIRO — Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chairman Mohab Mamish announced that Suez Canal hit a new record by the crossing of 70 ships with capacity of 4 million tons. About 34 ships have passed through the canal from the north convoy, while 36 ships passed from the south. “The increasing number of crossing ships sheds the lights on the importance of the establishment of the new Suez Canal, to raise the canal's capacity to receive the expected increase in the global trade,” added Mamish in a news release. The Danish containers' ship Mathilde Maersk, with a capacity of 200,000 tons is the biggest ship crossed the Suez Canal Tuesday from the north, while the giant Barzan is the biggest crossing from the south, with a 200,000-ton capacity. According to the release, Mathilde Maersk was coming from Belgium and headed to Saudi Arabia; it is one of the biggest containers' ships in the world as it can carry 18,270 containers. Barzan was coming from Malaysia to Spain. “The Suez Canal's is expected to generate $13.4 billion by 2023,” Mamish told Al Watan. The canal will also increase the capacity to 97 ships per day instead of 45, according to Al Ahram, Aug. 12. Since its Aug. 6 inauguration, a total of 194 ships have passed through the New Suez Canal, Youm7 reported Aug. 16. — Agencies
