CAIRO, 10 April, 2021 (TON): The arrival of a giant dredge in the Suez Canal waterway is the largest in the Middle East, announced the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) on Friday.

Chairman of the SCA Osama Rabie said in a statement, "After finishing all the naval experiments, the 48,000-tonne, 216.7-metre-long, 43-metre-wide dredge, which is dubbed Mohab Mamish, has joined the SCA fleet today."

A dredge is an apparatus for bringing up objects or mud from a river or seabed by scooping or dragging.

The media reported that the SCA has signed a 300-million-euro contract with the Dutch company IHC to build two dredges and a digger that could work all day long in all types of sand, and rocky and muddy soil.

However, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, the Suez Canal is a major lifeline for global seaborne trade since it allows ships to travel between Europe and South Asia without navigating around Africa, thereby reducing the sea voyage distance between Europe and India by about 7,000 km. Some 12 per cent of the world trade volume passes through the Suez Canal