Sinai News

A Liberian-flagged natural gas tanker that was stranded in the Gulf of Aqaba on Friday has been moved away, said two Egyptian sources at the southern Sinai nature reserves.One of the sources said the ship was moved to Sharm el-Sheikh port, with both sources saying the tanker had been empty and had suffered an engine malfunction.The Egyptian environment ministry said on Sunday that a state of environmental emergency had been imposed in the southern Sinai area in case of any pollution or leaks from the stranded ship.

Egypt's Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) on Tuesday announced it signed a $500 million contract with the Suez Canal Container Company (SCCT) to establish a second container handling terminal in East Port Said.The project will expand the existing SCCT’s Container Terminal at Port Said East Port, with a length of 955m and a handling yard of 510,000 m2. The terminal is currently operating with a berth length of 2,400m and a handling yard of 1.2 million m2 as the main operator in Port Said East Port…

Remote-controlled cameras will take over responsibility from U.S.-led peacekeepers for ensuring international shipping retains freedom of access to the Gulf of Aqaba, whose coastline is shared by Israel and three Arab nations, officials said.Tiran island, which lies in the straits of the same name at the mouth of the gulf, was handed to Saudi Arabia from Egypt along with next-door Sanafir island in 2017.During a visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia last week, U.S. President Joe Biden…

The international container terminal operating company headquartered in The Hague, APM Terminals said that it is working closely with the government of Egypt on the final pieces of the jigsaw that will ensure the success of Egypt Vision 2030 for Port Said East Port and the Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT).Once in place, it is set to regain its position as one of the most competitive ports in the South and East Mediterranean region, APM said in a press release.As part of Egypt Vision 2030, the Egyptian Government has made massive investments in infrastructure. On May 5, 2019, Egypt’s President, Mr. Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi inaugurated the Ismailia tunnel…

Egypt reopened five ports on Thursday that it had shut due to bad weather as conditions improved and winds stabilized, the Red Sea Ports Authority said.Several Egyptian port cities and the capital Cairo were hit by a severe sandstorm on Wednesday, which prompted the closure of several ports.The ports of Alexandria and Dekheila on the Mediterranean in the Alexandria governorate, which had been shut since Sunday, reopened at 1330 local (1130 GMT), Reda Ghandour, a spokesman for the Alexandria Port Authority, said.He said the decision to reopen the ports was made after wind speed, wave height and

Egypt had previously closed four ports on the Red Sea and two on the Mediterranean due to bad weather, officials said on Sunday.Over the weekend, the ports of Suez and Zeitiyat were shut in Suez governorate, the Red Sea Ports Authority said. Adabiya and Ain Sokhna ports, in the same governorate, also closed, a source at the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone said.Today, Egypt reopened four ports on the Red Sea on Monday, a day after they were closed due to bad weather conditions, authorities said.

Egypt has approved an exploration agreement with Italy's Eni and the Egyptian Tharwa company to search for oil and gas in the Mediterranean off the coast of northern Sinai, the Egyptian oil minister said on Wednesday.Under the deal, Eni and Tharwa will spend $105 million in two stages over six years, which involve drilling one well in the first stage and another in the second, Tarek El Molla told journalists.Reporting by Momen Saeed Atallah, writing by Sami Aboudi

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A New York Waterways ferry struck a group of kayakers on the Hudson River Tuesday afternoon, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Five of the 11 kayakers were transported to Bellevue Hospital and Mount Sinai Roosevelt Hospital for additional medical attention, and two were listed in critical condition. Coast Guard watchstanders at Sector New York received a call from the master aboard the ferry Jersey City at approximately 5:50 p.m. Tuesday, reporting a collision between the ferry and the group of kayakers near Pier 79 in Manhattan. A Coast Guard Station New York smallboat crew was launched and arrived on scene to assist New York Police Department, New York Fire Department and Jersey City Fire Department officials with rescuing the 11 kayakers from the water.

The cockpit voice recorder from EgyptAir flight MS804 has been retrieved by search teams in a breakthrough for investigators seeking to explain what caused the plane to crash into the sea killing all 66 people on board. The Airbus A320 plunged into the Mediterranean early on May 19 on its way from Paris to Cairo. Since then, search teams have worked against the clock to recover the two black box recorders crucial to explaining what went wrong, before they stop emitting signals in about a week.

The European Union fears Mediterranean migrant smuggling gangs are reviving a route from Egypt, officials told Reuters, putting thousands of people to sea in recents months as they face problems in Libya and Turkey. "It's an increasing issue," an EU official said of increased activity after a quiet year among smugglers around Alexandria that has raised particular concerns in Europe about Islamist militants from Sinai using the route to reach Greece or Italy. Departures from Egypt were a tiny part of the million people who arrived in Europe by sea last year; more than 80 percent came from Turkey to Greece and most others from Libya to Italy. Detailed figures on Egypt are not available.

Six-day ‘Voyage of Discovery’ concludes in Mt. Six teenage U.S. Naval Sea Cadets from Long Island who set sail from Mt. Sinai Harbor returned from their six-day Voyage of Discovery, bringing back a lifetime of practical sea experience and tactical training. Captain Roger Noakes and three experienced crewmen sailed with the aspiring U.S. Navy Midshipmen aboard the Nada, a 47-foot sailing vessel. The six-day and six-night sail started on August 14 and included voyages to Connecticut, Cape Cod and back to Mt. Sinai Harbor on August 20. The sea experience included site tours and training.

France has agreed to sell two Mistral helicopter carriers to Egypt for 950 million euros ($1.06 billion) after their sale to Russia was canceled in August, French officials said on Wednesday. Cairo has sought to boost its military power in the face of a two-year insurgency based across the Suez Canal in the Sinai peninsula and fears the conflict in neighbouring Libya could spill over. Egypt's allies are also keen to burnish its image in a region beset by turmoil. "We unwound the contract we had with Russia, on good terms, respectful of Russia and not suffering any penalty for France," Hollande told reporters on his arrival at an EU summit in Brussels.

Two Mistrals were originally destined for Russia. France is in talks to sell two Mistral helicopter carriers to Egypt after their sale to Russia was cancelled earlier this month, two sources close to the matter said on Wednesday. Cairo has sought to boost its military power in the face of a two-year-old insurgency based across the Suez Canal in the Sinai peninsula and fears the crisis in neighbouring Libya could spill over. Egypt's allies are also keen to burnish its image in a region beset by turmoil. A sale would also fit into France's recent strategy of favouring predominantly Sunni Arab nations, both politically and commercially, over their Shi'ite rival Iran.

Egypt staged a show of international support on Thursday as it inaugurated a major extension of the Suez Canal which President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hopes will power an economic turnaround in the Arab world's most populous country. The former armed forces chief, who led a military takeover two years ago but ran for president as a civilian last year, told a ceremony attended by leaders of France, Russia, Arab and African states that Egypt would defeat terrorism. The $8 billion New Suez Canal project was completed in just one year instead of three on Sisi's orders…

Egypt will open an expansion to the Suez Canal to great fanfare on Thursday, the centrepiece of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's plans to revitalise the country's economy after years of damaging political turmoil. Some analysts and economists say, however, that the mega-project may fail to meet the great expectations. The Suez extension was announced by Sisi a year ago and billed as a major national accomplishment on a par with President Gamal Abdel Nasser's nationalisation of the Suez Canal in 1956 and the building of the Aswan Dam.

Egypt has finished building its New Suez Canal, its overseer said on Wednesday, a project President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi sees as a symbol of national pride and a major chance to stimulate an economy suffering double-digit unemployment. The army led work 11 months ago on the $8-billion canal, flanking the existing, 145-year-old waterway and part of a larger undertaking to expand trade along the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia. The Suez Canal is a vital source of hard currency for Egypt, particularly since the 2011 uprising that scared off tourists and foreign investment.

The first cargo ships passed through Egypt's New Suez Canal on Saturday in a test-run before it opens next month, state media reported, 11 months after the army began constructing the $8 billion canal alongside the existing 145-year-old Suez Canal. The new waterway, which President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hopes will help expand trade along the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia and give a boost to Egypt's economy, will be formally inaugurated on Aug. Sisi wants the canal to become a symbol of national pride and to help combat Egypt's double-digit unemployment. The old Suez Canal is already a vital source of hard currency for Egypt, which has seen tourism and foreign investment drain away in the years of turmoil since a 2011 uprising.

The Suez Canal Authority is in a race to quickly expand the vital waterway for two-way traffic by August 2015, says an Associate Press report. Workers dig round the clock on Suez Canal expansion, hoping for surge in East-West trade. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has made the project a point of nationalist glory, not to mention a cornerstone of plans to revive the economy. But while shippers say more ships may be drawn by shorter waiting times, ambitions to nearly triple revenues depend mainly on growth in the world economy. Any major increase, however, depends on something unlikely to happen soon — a large jump in European demand fueling greater shipping from Asia. However, 89% of dredging work has been completed on the new Suez Canal.

With Legislative Reform Committee giving the go-ahead for the suggested Suez Canal Project regulatory legal frame work, Egypt is offering investors massive projects worth billions of U.S. dollars for the development of the Suez Canal region. The new Law allows authority to launch major development company, and completely own it or in co-operation with private sector, and cancel the requirement of owning at least 50%. The government will offer investors 18 projects worth around $40 billion to create a new industrial and logistical zone along the strategic waterway. ”The authority will literally be a single-window,” Hani Sarie-Eldin, Chairman of Sarie – Eldin & Partners – Legal Advisors said. “The Suez Canal Corridor is the biggest national project for public and private investments.

A tanker carrying crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan reappeared unladen on Aug. 19 about 30 kilometres off the coast of Israel, ship tracking data on Reuters showed. This is the second time the Kamari has appeared in the area in the last two weeks carrying Kurdish oil. The tanker Kamari was partly laden north of Egypt's Sinai on Aug. 17, tracking showed, before it turned off its satellite transponder until early on Aug. 19. It was not possible to determine where the oil had been delivered to or who the buyer was. A spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Natural Resources did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment on Wednesday. The KRG has previously denied selling oil to Israel "directly or indirectly".

Egypt's Islamic State affiliate said on Thursday it fired a rocket at an Egyptian naval vessel in the Mediterranean Sea near the coast of Israel and the Gaza Strip. The militant group Sinai Province has focussed mainly on attacking Egyptian soldiers and police in the Sinai peninsula, killing hundreds since the army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. Photographs distributed online by the group appeared to show a rocket heading towards a ship and setting it ablaze on impact. Reuters could not verify the militants' version of events. The Egyptian military said in a statement that a coastguard launch had exchanged shots with "terrorist elements", causing the vessel to catch fire. It said there was no loss of life.

Gunmen in a fishing boat opened fire on an Egyptian naval launch which shot back, killing at least four of the attackers on Wednesday, security sources and state media said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assault in the Mediterranean north of the port of Damietta, near the Suez Canal. The military has faced attacks from Islamist militants based in the Sinai Peninsula further east, and smugglers also operate in the area. State-run newspaper Al-Ahram reported soldiers were wounded and a number of the gunmen had been arrested. The military was not available for comment. Two militant attacks in the Sinai Peninsula last month killed 33 security personnel…