Russia's Arctic Route Not Alternative to Suez Canal - Mamish

Mohab Mamish, advisor to the Egyptian President for the projects of the Suez Canal axis commented on rumors about alternatives to the canal.

Mamish said: "There is no alternative to the Suez Canal, and earlier they thought of three channels, including the Israeli Canal, the Arctic Canal, and the Nicaragua Canal, and officials in the Suez Canal Authority follow developments in these canals day by day."

In a call in on MBC Masr TV Channel, he added that the Suez Canal is a lifeline not only for Egypt but for the whole world, and everyone saw that when Ever Green vessel got stranded for several days.

He explained that the Russian Arctic route in the frozen Arctic Ocean operates six months a year when the ice melts. He continued: "And who has been waiting for 6 months when the snow melts! And when they experimented, they counted 47 ships a year, and we are the 47 ships that we cross in a day, and therefore the economic feasibility The project is very weak.

He stated that the proposed distance for an alternative Israeli channel to the Suez Canal is 522 km, stressing that the Israeli Ministry of Finance rejected the idea completely.

He continued, “The Israeli Ministry of Finance submitted a proposal to make a container terminal in Eilat and transfer it by rail to Haifa and Ashdod. The project needed 19,000 railway vehicles to connect one container ship, and here the high cost was confirmed and therefore the project was canceled.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia is continuing to build the most powerful fleet of icebreakers in the world.

Putin said during a speech at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society: "Russia continues to build the most powerful fleet of icebreakers, including giant icebreakers such as the "Lider" icebreaker, which no one has built like before."

He added that traffic through the Arctic route may become year-round in the next few years.