The Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), Osama Rabie announced that BYD XI’AN, one of the world’s largest car carriers, has made its first voyage through the Suez Canal coming from Singapore and heading to Italy.
The car carrier is 219 meters long, 37 meters wide, and has a draft of 10 meters. It has a capacity of 9,442 cars and was carrying 7,000 on board.
The carrier is operated by the Chinese shipping line BYD, the largest Chinese manufacturer of electric vehicles. This is the shipping line’s second voyage through the Suez Canal, following the transit of the BYD HEFEI on June 27.
The Chairman of the SCA explained that the canal has lately seen many positive developments in car carrier traffic and their transit rates, even despite current challenges.
Rabie anticipated an increase in the number of trips by the BYD shipping line, in addition to the regularity of some transits by the COSCO shipping line within its shipping services, in cooperation with Neptune Lines, which connects the Far East and the Mediterranean.
He referred to the passage of two trips under the United Global Ro-Ro shipping service, which was launched in February, linking Far East ports with Mediterranean ports and northwestern Europe.
Car carriers transiting the Suez Canal once again sends a message of confidence that the Canal will remain the main artery for global trade from East to West, he added.
The gradual return of major shipping lines to transiting the canal is inevitable, he assured, the pace of which depends on the current situation and geopolitical challenges in the region.
Rabie also expects the tonnage of car carriers transiting the canal to increase by at least 20 percent in the second half of this year compared to the first half of the same year.
