H.E Admiral Ossama Rabiee, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, announced the arrival of the marine units of Anti-Pollution Egypt fleet in preparation for the commencement of providing the waste collection service and its safe disposal from vessels crossing the Canal at the vicinity of the northern and southern entrances during the first quarter of next year 2025, according to SCA 's release.
The announcement was made during his inspection tour of the marine units at the berth of Al-Irshad Building in Ismailia Governorate.
SCA Chairman explained that the new service will take into account the application of international environmental standards in accordance with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) by utilizing advanced marine equipment specialized in marine waste removal operations with environmentally friendly methods, most notably the waste collection vessel ECO SUEZ 1, the first unit in the Company's environmentally friendly fleet, as it features an effective hull design, environmentally friendly paints, and low-emission engines designed to achieve the highest level of fuel consumption efficiency, in addition to a number of self-propelled marine barges and rigid inflatable-boats (RIB).
SCA Chairman noted that contracts are underway to build a group of environmentally friendly waste collection vessels in cooperation with the authority's shipyards and companies, provided that the contract includes the possibility of building hybrid units that operate on alternative fuel.
The Chairman of SCA stressed that adding a new service to collect waste from the transiting vessels, its safely disposal comes in implementation of the Suez Canal Authority's strategy for green transformation by adopting environmentally friendly policies in various activities; a serious approach crystallized in the SCA commitment to having a permanent environmental representative during the service provision period, in addition to cooperating with contractors working in the field of waste collection besides training them on international methods and standards for collecting waste from vessels, in implementation of the agreement in force with the Egyptian Marine Supply and Contracting Company affiliated to the Ministry of Transport and both the Red Sea Ports Authority and the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone to regularize the status of contractors providing the service.
For his part, Mr. Vyron Vasileiadis, Chairman of V Group (the owner company of Antipollution) stressed that the new partnership with the Suez Canal is a strong starting point towards localizing the technology of collecting waste from vessels in a sustainable and safe manner to create a better sustainable future for the Suez Canal and the surrounding area.
The Chairman of V Group, explained that the project will be implemented in several stages, as the first stage includes collecting solid waste from ships in waiting areas, followed in the next stages by establishing a plant for fuel derived from waste to produce green hydrogen. It is worth noting that "Antipollution Egypt" is an Egyptian joint stock company in partnership between the Suez Canal Authority, represented by the Canal Ropes Company and the Suez Shipyard Company (SCA affiliated company), the Greek company Antipollution and Mr. Eric Adam, the Egyptian-Greek businessman, to add a new service aimed at collecting solid and liquid marine waste within the logistic services provided to the canal-transiting vessels according to the latest international environmental standards.