This is one of the major international maritime trade development projects in Egypt. The extension of the port of Sokhna, located around fifty kilometers south of Suez, would allow Egypt to count on its soil one of the major ports on the east coast of Africa – in line with Mombasa and Dar Es Salaam.
The excavators are busy on a construction site that stretches as far as the eye can see under the harsh sun. In the distance, the chimneys of some factories exhale their smoke above the Red Sea. “Why is Sokhna Port special? It is strategically located at the entrance to the Suez Canal, explains General Mohamed Khalil, head of the port development project affiliated with the Egyptian Ministry of Transport, who is presenting the site. We are here on one of the quays of the port of Ain Sokhna. Here, at the port of Sokhna, we have 18 kilometers of quay… 18 kilometers in a row, and that does not exist in any other port in the world. »
This giant quay was financed by the Hong Kong builder Hutchison. The Chinese Cosco and the French CMA CGM are also among the major investors in the development of Sokhna. But the Egyptian general insists on the national interest. “Here, at the port, we have 228 Egyptian national companies, which directly create 100,000 job opportunities: engineers, workers, drivers, etc.,” he highlights.
Egypt dreams of itself as a pivotal country for international maritime transport, on the routes that connect Asia to Europe. “Egypt has a lot of ambition for its canal and in addition, we have flows from Asia. It seemed more logical to unload in Sokhna for this part of Egypt rather than bringing the lines to Alexandria or Damietta,” analyzes Paul Tourret, director of the Higher Institute of Maritime Economics.
Interest from investors?
Ultimately, the extension of the port would be accompanied by the development of a large logistics zone up to the Suez Canal. But Egypt’s economic instability, and on a larger scale, the region’s geopolitical instability, could compromise its ambitions. It is difficult to know whether major logisticians will want to install structures on the canal in Egypt. “It depends on the Egyptian, political and economic cocktail,” says Paul Tourret. Because the economic crisis hitting the country and the attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea reinforce doubts about the attractiveness of Sokhna.
But nothing to discourage the Gulf countries, in particular DP World, the Emirati administrator of the port of Sokhna which is booming on the continent. “The Gulf countries, at the same time as they are developing their ports, are developing their port companies,” explains the director of the Higher Institute of Maritime Economics. These are possibilities tomorrow to do things. The creation not of Arab finance, but of infrastructure capacity. » The new giant quays of Sokhna should welcome the first container ships from 2025.
