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Admiral Ossama Rabiee: “We Call on Mærsk to take the initiative to make positive decisions towards amending its navigation schedules and to return gradually to transit through the Suez Canal.”
Mærsk Group Vice President: “We affirm the Group’s commitment to returning to transit through the Suez Canal .. We are monitoring developments moment by moment”
Admiral Ossama Rabiee, Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, met today, Wednesday, with a high-level delegation from A.P. Møller – Mærsk Group, led by Ms. Camilla Jain Holtse, Vice President, Head of Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs, and with the participation of the Group’s representatives in a number of different geographical regions to discuss avenues of joint cooperation. The meeting was held at Irshad building in Ismailia Governorate.
The meeting comes within the framework of fruitful cooperation between the two sides, and on the sidelines of their official visit to Egypt.
The delegation included Mr. Hany El Nady, Mærsk Group Representative in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA); Mr. Simon Bergulf, Group’s Representative in Europe; Mr. Doug Morgante, Group’s Representative in North America; Mr. Jens Eskelund, Group’s Representative in China and Northeast Asia; Mr. René Piil Pedersen, Group’s Representative in South Asia and Southeast Asia; and Mr. Danilo de Morais Veras, Group’s Representative in Latin America.
At the outset of the meeting, H. E. Admiral Ossama Rabiee emphasized the significance of the exceptional visit that reflects the depth of long-standing strategic relations between the two sides, based on achieving mutual interests and serving global trade. Admiral Rabiee pointed out that the current challenges in the Red Sea region stressed the importance of the Suez Canal to the sustainability of global supply chains and its direct impact on increasing operational costs and duration of voyages.
The Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority called on A.P. Møller – Mærsk Group to take the initiative to make new decisions towards amending its navigation schedules and to return gradually to transit through the Suez Canal in light of the positive developments that the security situation in the Red Sea region is witnessing. Moreover, Admiral Rabiee noted the Authority’s response to requests of a number of shipping lines by granting temporary incentives and toll reductions by 15% for container vessels with a net tonnage of 130 thousand tons or above in order to encourage the return of shipping lines to transit through the Canal. In this regard, H. E. pointed out that the Authority received numerous positive impressions about this decision, amid welcoming reactions from many shipping lines and the anticipated resonance of this decision within the international maritime community.
The Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority added that the conditions are favorable to make more positive decisions towards the return of transiting through the Suez Canal in light of an international and regional desire to reach fundamental solutions for the issue of freedom of navigation in the Red Sea region.On her part, Ms. Camilla Jain Holtse, Group’s Vice President, Head of Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs, emphasized the pivotal strategic role of the Suez Canal in light of the partnership and close relations between the two sides, which date back more than 100 years.
Furthermore, Mærsk Group Vice President affirmed the Group's commitment to returning to transit through the Suez Canal, highlighting the Group’s close monitoring of developments in the security situation in the Red Sea and also the Group’s continuous assessment of the changing dynamics around the clock.
Holtse also pointed out that Maersk values the efforts exerted by the SCA to maintain direct and ceaseless communication with shipping lines and meet their requirements, praising the latest incentives and reductions granted to container vessels and describing them as "a positive step".
On his part, Mr. Hany El Nady, Maersk Group Representative in MENA, stressed that the Suez Canal will remain the Group’s first choice, highlighting that the latest positive indicators on stability in the region are considered a good step forward that is received by Maersk and further studied and analyzed. In the same context, Mr. Doug Morgante, the Group’s Representative in North America, expressed the Group’s anticipation of the restoration of stability and calm in the Red Sea region, and ensuring safety considerations of the vessels and crew members in a way enabling a decision on the return of transits through the Suez Canal once more.
While Mr. Jens Eskelund, the Group’s Representative in China and Northeast Asia, emphasized the Suez Canal’s importance in the sustainability of global supply chains, underlining the negative impact of the Red Sea crisis on the maritime transport industry and the resulting unprecedented disruption in the maritime shipping system, and lauded the SCA’s efforts in managing this current crisis.
On that same note, Mr. René Piil Pedersen, the Group’s Representative in South Asia and Southeast Asia, shed the light on the importance of the Suez Canal in bolstering the global economy as an indispensable waterway to global trade, expressing his hopes for the situation to return back to normal in the near future. On his part, Mr. Danilo de Morais Veras, the Group’s Representative in Latin America, praised the Suez Canal’s system of management describing it as the world’s largest and most important infrastructure project. He added that it is considered a model of success in light of the crisis management strategies, policies and mechanisms it employs.
