Cairo: Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority Admiral Osama Rabie announced the successful towing of the oil tanker SOUNION by four tugs belonging to the authority on its journey through the Suez Canal as part of the southern convoy coming from the Red Sea and heading to Greece. The Greek-flagged vessel measures 274 metres in length, 50 metres in width, and has a draft of 31 feet.

According to State Information Service Egypt, the Chairman explained that the preparations for towing the tanker required complex procedures over several months to unload its cargo of 150,000 tonnes of crude oil before allowing it to transit the canal. This was due to the hazardous situation of the tanker after it was attacked in the Red Sea last August, resulting in a massive fire in the bridge, engine room, and living quarters, and causing control and monitoring systems to malfunction, making navigation difficult and increasing the risk of pollution, spills, or explosions.

Admiral Rabie added that the unloading operation in the Suez anchorage area involved complex procedures conducted by the salvage companies AMBERY and MEGA TUGS, appointed by the tanker’s owners. They worked through a joint action plan in collaboration and under the full supervision of the authority’s marine rescue team to unload the cargo onto a similar tanker, according to precise unloading rates and calculations to prevent any damage or splitting of the tanker’s hull.

The Chairman revealed the efforts of the Central Anti-Pollution Committee of the authority in monitoring the unloading operations and ensuring that the procedures taken by the salvage companies were adequate to prevent any leakage or pollution in the external waters of the tanker, in addition to raising the state of readiness in case support and assistance were needed during the towing operation through the waterway, with the presence of the authority’s pollution control vessel “Kashat 2”.

Admiral Rabie noted that the tanker “SOUNION” transited the canal towed by the accompanying rescue tug AIGAION PELAGOS and was guided by the tug “Baraka,” the largest tug in the authority with a pulling power of 160 tonnes, and secured by three other tugs from the authority: the tugs Mohamed Bashir and Swiss 1 on the sides, while tug Swiss 2 acted as a stern tug.

He added that the towing operation took nearly 24 hours with the participation of 13 pilots in the anchorage and canal areas and was conducted in several stages interspersed with waiting periods and pilot changes. The tanker was towed from the Suez anchorage on Saturday evening to the waiting area in the Great Bitter Lakes to await the passage of vessels from the northern and southern convoys and to complete the pilot change before continuing the towing operation to the Ballah area, where the pilot change was made again before towing the tanker to Port Said, all under the careful monitoring of the navigation control centre and the pilot stations along the canal.

The Chairman confirmed the Suez Canal’s readiness to handle special and non-traditional transit cases through a comprehensive operational system that includes qualified personnel and material and technical capabilities, including conducting full simulations of this type of transit operation at the Marine Training and Simulation Academy to ensure their success, in addition to the diverse range of marine and navigational services the authority provides to meet various customer requirements in normal and emergency conditions according to global procedures and standards, with a commitment to the principle of safety first to ensure safe transit and maintain the integrity of the canal.

For his part, Captain Lars Tesmar, Senior Consultant at Brand Marine Consultants, a company specialising in marine salvage operations, confirmed that the unloading operation of the tanker’s cargo was complex and required precise calculations in coordination with multiple parties, praising the cooperation he observed from the authority’s marine rescue team and their extensive experience in this field, which enabled them to facilitate the operations and meet the necessary requirements for towing the tanker through the canal, expressing his gratitude to the Suez Canal Authority and all those involved in this successful operation.