Suez Canal Authority denies seeking €300mn loan to buy dredgers

Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA) spokesperson Tarek Hassanein has denied that the SCA is seeking a €300 million loan from lenders based in the Arabian Gulf.

Reuters had cited unnamed banking sources as saying that the authority is seeking a loan to buy two large dredgers.

“We have no secrets,” Hassanein told Ahram Online.

The SCA had signed a contract in October 2017 with Dutch company Royal IHC “for the design and construction of two custom-built 29,190kW heavy-duty rock cutter suction dredgers (CSDs),” according to a statement from the company.

“[The signing] is a serious step towards upgrading our fleet of dredgers, and means that we will have the world’s largest CSDs in terms of dimensions and total power. The new state-of-the-art CSDs from Royal IHC will enable the SCA to participate in deepening and widening the waterway and help realise the Egyptian plan to develop local ports,” SCA Chairman and Managing Director Admiral Mohab Mohamed Hussien Mameesh had said after the signing.

However, the authority could not secure funding from local banks, according to Reuters.