Italy Eyes Suez Canal Investments

A delegation of Italian entrepreneurs visited the Suez Canal to find out more about the investment opportunities in Egypt’s USD 8-billion canal expansion project.

The delegation, comprised of around 40 representatives from Italian companies, mostly specializing in infrastructure, were given a tour of the canal expansion project at Ismalia, ANSAmed news agency informed.

The ‘new’ Suez Canal will partially run in parallel to the current waterway and entail widening and deepening of existing parts thereof.

The new channel of 35 km has already been excavated and is to be deepened now.

 ”The Italian entrepreneurial community is very interested in playing an active role” in the ”development of the canal’s area,” ANSAmed quoted Italy’s Ambassador Maurizio Massari as saying during the visit.

The Suez Canal project is scheduled to be completed by August 2015.

The new lane is expected to will double the capacity of the existing waterway and almost triple revenues in fewer than 10 years, reaching up to USD 13.2bn in 2023, bringing in more than 100 bn on annual basis.

Revenues from the Suez Canal stood at USD 434.8 million in January,  down from USD 445.5 million in December, Reuters reported.

World Maritime News Staff