ECHO NAVIGATOR: ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE

ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXPERIENCE – TRANSITING SUEZ CANAL

To get the best sailing experience you definitely have to see something extraordinary and that’s what we had while Transiting Suez Canal on a VLCC (Very large crude carrier).

The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean sea and the Red sea It was 104 NM and the channel was 24 M deep 205 M wide. The canal is owned and maintained by the Suez canal authority of Egypt. We were a fully loaded VLCC so we couldn’t enter the channel first so we had to discharge at AIN SUKHNA and then received the permission to enter the channel the next morning. The whole transit was done by pilotage. The pilot boarded and we entered the channel and then we picked up the Suez crew along with their boats using our cranes and placed it on our deck. There were plenty of souvenirs which they brought it for sale, and it was all displayed in the smoking room. Its compulsory for any ship which are transiting through the Suez canal to carry the Suez crew along with them. This transit took 14 hrs in which there were interchanges of pilots along the course.

The ship was carefully navigated by very experienced pilots and were assisted by the master, duty officers and we cadets. From the time we entered the canal till we exited the canal we had a lot of awesome memories which we can carry out entire life. All along the canal there were deserted roads , monuments, shops , houses, tall buildings , vegetation’s.

We navigated under the bridges. There were gates in the canal which were opened once in a while and vehicles can cross the canal.