CMA CGM's Largest Container Ship Returns to Suez Canal After Two Years

On Saturday (Nov. 8), the Suez Canal witnessed the passage of the CMA CGM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, marking the largest container ship to transit the waterway in the past two years. The event was described by the head of the canal authority as a positive sign that maritime traffic is returning to this crucial trade route.

Admiral Osama Rabie, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), announced the "gradual return" of giant container ships. The CMA CGM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN was part of a northbound convoy, on its journey from the United Kingdom to Malaysia.

The vessel, belonging to the French carrier CMA CGM, is 399 meters long, 54 meters wide, has a draft of 13.5 meters, and can carry 17,859 containers, with a net tonnage of 177,000 tons.

This was the vessel's first transit through the Suez Canal and the Bab al-Mandab Strait since its last passage on October 22, 2023, due to regional tensions.

"The passage of the container ship CMA CGM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN through the canal and then the Bab al-Mandab strait is a positive indicator towards the beginning of the return of giant container ships to transit the Suez Canal once again, in light of the return of stability to the Red Sea region," Rabie said in a statement.

He added that the flexible marketing and incentive policies the authority has applied since this past May have succeeded in restoring 28 transits of medium-sized container ships, with average tonnage ranging from 130,000 to 160,000 tons, to the canal on their voyages from Europe to Asia. This figure includes 19 transits by CMA CGM and 9 by MSC.

Rabie also noted that CMA CGM had rerouted another of its giant container ships, the CMA CGM ZHENG HE, to transit the Suez Canal instead of traveling via the Cape of Good Hope.

He emphasized that the CMA CGM BENJAMIN FRANKLIN's safe passage through the Bab al-Mandab Strait after transiting the canal sends a "message of reassurance to all shipping lines that calm has returned to the region." He argued that this will encourage a review of operational schedules and the execution of "test transits" through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.

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Source: Phaata.com (According to Daily News Egypt)

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