The Suez Canal Authority begins work on extending two copies

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has begun work on extending a duplicate that would allow traffic in both directions in a section close to where the giant cargo ship ran aground for six days in March.

The Securities and Commodities Authority announced this week that it plans to extend a second route for the canal, which opened in 2015, with a width of 82 kilometers, by 10 kilometers, while continuing to expand and deepen the extension of one lane at the southern end of the canal.

The Securities and Commodities Authority said today, Saturday, that the work began on the orders of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi “to immediately start implementing the proposed development plan, and thus set a timetable for its completion as soon as possible.”

The 440-meter-high freighter Evergiven in the southern section of the canal between 23 and 29 March delayed hundreds of ships at sea, cutting off global trade.

Ever Given, still loaded with thousands of containers, is trapped in Great Bitter Lake, between two stretches of the canal, amid a dispute over a lawsuit by the Securities and Commodities Authority against the boat’s owner, Japan’s Choi Kisen.