Rabie: “The successful crossing of the floating dock “DOURADO” in the largest qualitative crossing operation in the history of the canal for a towed marine unit with a width of 90 meters”
Admiral Osama Rabie, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority ( SCA ) announced today, Friday, the success of the largest qualitative crossing operation in the history of the canal by crossing the floating dock “DOURADO” with a width of 90 meters within the southern convoy in the new navigational Suez canal,
Pilotage by five tugs
Towed from the front by two accompanying tugs, with its pilotage by five tugs affiliated with the authority and its guidance by a team that includes a group of senior Pilots from the authority and captains of tugs during its sea voyage coming from Singapore and heading to Turkey.
Unconventional crossing experiences
It is noteworthy that the crossing of the floating dock “DOURADO” is one of the unconventional crossing experiences and the largest floating unit crossing the canal is trailer with a total length of the crossing group (including the dock and tugs) of 450 meters, a width of 90 meters and a load of 91 thousand tons,
Navigational arrangements
It is required its crossing to take complex navigational arrangements and measures due to the nature of the floating unit which depends only on the tow to direct it with tugs, which requires taking into account accuracy in steering and studying the movement and direction of air and water currents to maintain its position in the middle of the canal during its journey
The Chairman of SCA explained that the crossing of the floating dock took approximately 24 hours and required taking some pre-crossing procedures starting from developing the navigation plan by the Navigation Control Center, then discussing and analyzing the navigational insurance mechanisms necessary to cross the floating dock safely and securely at the Authority’s Maritime Simulation and Training Academy, followed by an initial inspection of the floating dock in the Suez Draught area by the participating working group of guides and tugs captains.
Preparations for crossing
Admiral Rabie added that preparations for crossing the floating dock began in coordination with the company that owns the dock before the trip began,
Noting that as soon as the floating dock reached the canal draft, its mooring was equipped with tugs, as the dock crossed trailered from the front by the two accompanying tugs from Singapore, namely the tug “Hulk ll” and the tug “MAVERIC 1”, with the participation of five tugs belonging to the authority, led by the tug “Baraka 1” for navigational insurance work,
And on both sides the tugs “Mohamed Bashir” and “Nabil Al-Hilali” to maintain the dock’s position in the middle of the canal, and the tugs “Suez 1” and “Suez 2” were used from behind, under the supervision of a working group that included 16 canal guides and 10 tug captains from the authority.
Safe and secure crossing
Admiral Rabie confirmed that the Authority has taken all necessary measures to ensure the safe and secure crossing of the floating dock by providing the necessary navigational facilities and assistance, in addition to the round-the-clock monitoring by the main movement office and navigation control stations of the set speeds, which did not exceed 4 knots, in addition to determining the route and directions of sea and water currents.
A certificate of confidence in the Suez Canal’s ability
The Chairman of SCA stressed that the success of the qualitative crossing operations is a certificate of confidence in the Suez Canal’s ability to carry out various crossing operations, and an indication of its readiness to provide all necessary navigational, maritime and logistical services, including guidance, navigational insurance, escort, rescue and other services.
According to the navigation regulations.
Rabie confirmed that the floating dock “DOURADO” would not have crossed the canal had it not been for the completion of the canal expansion project as part of the southern sector development project, as the maximum width allowed for crossing the canal before the implementation of the expansion project was 70 meters according to the navigation regulations.
First of its kind for a floating
Thus, the floating dock crossing becomes the first of its kind for a floating unit to cross with this width after the completion of the expansion project, which allowed for increasing the canal width by adding 40 meters to the east, thus reducing the effects of water currents and increasing the navigational safety factor in the southern sector, in addition to raising the efficiency of the canal and increasing its capacity to receive floating units that did not cross the canal before.
Many qualitative crossing operations
It is worth noting that the Suez Canal has witnessed many qualitative crossing operations, most notably the crossing of the floating dock, the pride of the canal, with a capacity of 34,000 tons, in June 2023, in addition to the crossing of the ENERGEAN POWER liquefied natural gas production and storage unit in June 2022, and the crossing of the pipe slide in September 2020.
This was stated by the official spokesman of SCA George Safwat.
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