Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-04-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the impact on British shipping of the decision by the President of Egypt to give control of the expansion of the Suez Canal to the Egyptian armed forces.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We are not aware of any impact on British shipping in relation to the Egyptian armed forces’ involvement with the Suez Canal. The New Suez Canal Project, completed in August 2015, has shortened the transit time and has increased the number of ships which the Canal can handle on a daily basis. The Egyptian armed forces continue to provide security for the Canal and support the activity of the Suez Canal Authority as they did before the expansion of the Canal.