SUEZ CANAL NAVIGATION FEATURES

SECTION 1

APPROACHES

PORT SAID

GENERAL

Fifteen miles before arrival to FAIRWAY Buoy, all vessels arriving from sea should contact the Harbour Office by V.H.F. (channel 16), if not able to R/T (2182 kHz) or by W/T, or by R. Telex and Inmarsat Via Suez Canal Marine Communication Center SUQ for instructions . (See Art. 86 and Art. 87)

FAIRWAY BUOY Position

Lat.     31° 21'.32 N

Long. 32° 20'.81 E

A - ANCHORAGE AREAS

The incoming vessels have two anchorage areas:

(1) Northern Area: Comprises two Zone:

    (a) Zone One: for vessels with draught over 42 feet.

        This zone is limited as follows:

        North limit: Lat. 31° 28'.50 N

        South limit: Lat. 31° 27'.00 N

        East limit: Long. 31° 20'.00 E

        West limit Long. 32° 18'.00 E

Vessels at anchor in this area, when entering the Eastern Channel, will proceed between the East and West buoys at Hm. 195 (Course 194°)

Hm. 195 :

East:                                                                             West :

Lat.    31° 25'.06 N                                                         Lat.    31° 25'.16 N

Long. 32° 24'.30 E                                                         Long. 32° 23.85 E

    (b) Zone Two : For VLCC's, 4th generation containerships, 3rd generation containerships and vessels over 39 feet draught up to 42 feet. This zone limited as follows:

North Limit : Lat. 31° 25'.00N

South Limit: Lat. 31° 23'.20N

East Limit: Long. 32° 20'.oo E

West Limit: Long. 32° 16'.00 E

Vessels at anchor in this area, when entering the Eastern Channel, will proceed between the East and West light buoys at Hm, 135.

Hm. 135:

Lat. 31° 21'.95N

Long. 32° 23'.10E

The berths of this zone are called (V) berths and comprise the following:

Center of circle (Radius 750 meters)

(2) Southern Area

for all other vessels, area is limited as follows:

North Limit: Lat. 31° 23'.05 N

South Limit: Lat. 31° 21'.25 N

East Limit: Long. 32° 20'.50 E

West Limit: Long. 32° 16'.70 E

Vessels at anchor in this area, when entering the Port of Port Said through the west Approach Channel proceed:

i - Take on their starboard :Fairway Buoy:, (No. 8), (No.7) and (No. 6) Buoys.

ii - On the port there are 3 yellow buoys showing yellow lights.

iii - On reaching No. 5 pair of buoys at Hm. 80 showing F.Gr. & R. they will proceed through the old channel to port (course 217.5°).

Berths in southern area called (C):

Center of circle (radius 500 meters)

(3) Prohibited area for anchorage:

The area between the East limit of the two anchorage areas and the approach channels is prohibited for anchorage to all vessels and floating units.

(4) Anchorage area for Trans-shipment operations:

a) Vessels up to 60 feet draught:

North limit: Lat. 31° 25'.00 N

South limit: Long. 31° 24'.00 N

East limit: Lat. 32° 27'.00 E

West limit: Long. 32° 26'.00 E

b) Vessels over 60 feet draught:

North limit: Lat. 31° 27'.00 N

South limit: Lat. 31° 26'.00 N

East limit: Long. 32° 28'.00 E

West limit: Long. 32° 27'.00 E

(5) Dangerous areas

a) Wreck:

A wreck buoy is situated on the western side of a sunken ship at

Lat. 31° 25'.24 N

Long. 32° 22'.98 E

Height 5 meters, painted black and red horizontal bands, with daymark 2 black balls, showing group Fl.W. (2) every 10 sec.

b) Dumping areas:

The hopper dredgers dredge underway for several months every year the entrance channels and dump in  the following areas:

-3140 meters east of the axis of the east channel at Hm. 140

Lat. 31° 20'.80 N

Long. 32° 25'.80 E

- 4000 meters east of the axis of the east channel at Hm. 80 approximately

Lat. 31° 18'.70 N

Long. 32° 24'.70 E

B- Port Said approach channels:

(1) Buoyage

The Port said west approach channel extends from the port of Port Said till Hm. 80 where it joins the east approach channel. The Port Said east approach channel extends from the land boundary, east of Port Said , till Hm. 195. The two channels are marked, on each side, by light buoys of 5 meters height (except from Hm. 195 till Hm. 135 east channel,the height of the buoys is 10 meters). The light is red on the eastern side and Green on the western side.

a) East approach channel

The east approach channel is buoyed as follows:

- In the west: Green daymark cone point up Fl. Gr. lights.

- In the east: Red, daymark can Fl. R. lights

The 2 buoys indicating the northern end of the channel, at Hm. 195, are Isophase (2 sec. ON, 2 sec. OFF) the distance between them is 754 meters.

b) Junction of east and west approach channels:

Three yellow buoys mark the junction of the east and west approach channels. They are placed at Hm. 83, Hm. 95 and Hm. 105

i - Buoy at Hm. 83: Yellow and Black in color, is fitted with N-Cardinal 2 cones point up daymark and shows by night Q. Fl. W (5) every 20 sec.

ii - Buoy at Hm. 95: Yellow in color, shows a F.Y. light.

iii - Buoy at Hm. 105: Yellow in color, is fitted with a yellow St. Andrews Cross daymark and shows by night Group Fl. Y (4) every 15 sec.

c) West approach channel:

The buoyage of the west approach channel of Port Said harbour, is as follows:

i - Port Said, a fairway light buoy, height 10 meters, painted black with yellow horizontal stripes, surmounted by a daymark 2 cones point up, and showing V.Q.

Lat. 31° 21'.32 N

Long. 32° 20'.81 E

- Buoy No. 8 green daymark: Cone point up. F. Gr. light

Lat. 31° 21'.13 N

Long. 32° 21'.04 E

- Buoy No. 7 Green daymark: Cone point up. F. Gr. light

Lat. 31° 20'.52 N

Long. 32° 21'.31 E

- Buoy No. 6 Green daymark: Cone point up. F. Gr. light

Lat. 31° 19'.09 N

Long. 32° 21'.58 E

ii - The west approach channel: is buoyed as follows:

- In the west: Green daymark : Cone point up. F. Gr. light.

- In the east: Red daymark: Can F. R. light.

- Buoy No. 5 of Hm. 80 east red: daymark Can F. R.

Lat. 31° 19'.13 N

Long. 32° 22'.11 E

- Buoy No. 5 of Hm. 80 west green : daymark Cone F. Gr.

Lat. 31° 19'.30 N

Long 32° 21'.85 E

d) Bahar tower

A guidance tower in position between the East and West approach channels:

Lat. : 31° 18' 05" N
Long. : 32° 21' 28" E

Height 42 meters, painted white with red horizontal stripes.

Characteristics :

Racon Call sign Q "--.-" Range 15 miles.
Beacon light Fl.W. one sec. ON one sec. OFF. Range 15 miles.
Automatic fog horn.

(2) Navigation:

a) Northbound vessels:

i - All northbound vessels use the east approach channel. The end of the navigable channel is marked by 2 pair of buoys at Hm. 195, course: 014°. From Hm. 195, vessels are to steer north (000°) for 5 miles before altering to destination.

ii - Vessels leaving Port Said harbour to sea, use the west approach channel, course (037.5°) till Hm. 80 (buoys No. 5) then steer (000°) to 5 miles north of the buoy of Hm. 195 west:

Lat. 31° 25'.16 N

Long. 32° 23'.85 E

before altering to destination.

iii - Vessels of the northbound convoys wishing to enter Port Said Harbour may proceed through the west channel (direct to their allocated berth in Port Said Harbour, only if the situation of traffic permits. Otherwise they have to proceed through the east approach channel till Hm. 195, then steer north (000°) for 5 miles and head for the anchorage berth allocated by the harbour office.

b) Southbound vessels:

The maximum draught authorized for southbound vessels is limited to 42 feet.

i - Very Large Crude Carrier ship's, in ballast or partially loaded, 4th generation containerships and 3rd generation containerships, Lighter Aboard Ship over over 35.000 Suez Canal Gross Tonnage, Liquefied Petroleum Gas & Liquefied Natural Gas (Loaded or Non Gas Free) and vessels having a draught of more than 42 feet and up to 56 feet maximum, have to use the east approach channel, course 194°. The said vessels enter the channel between FL. Gr. Buoys of Hm. 165 and Hm. 135.

ii - All other vessels, transiting the canal or berthing at Port Said, have to enter through the west approach channel. Course 180° from the entrance, passing between the west green buoys and the east yellow buoys till Hm. 80, then alter course to 217.5° passing between green and red buoys, till Port Said Harbour.

A fixed red light on a pylon on the North Quay of Abbas Basin in line with an occulting red Light on a pylon West of the Fuel Oil Tanks at Raswa, indicates the axis of the entrance channel to the harbour.

C - Breakwaters

(1) The West approach channel is protected by two breakwaters:

(a) The Western breakwater protecting the west approach channel is situated to the west of the channel and extends from land boundary till Hm. 73 with a submerged part from Hm. 50. This part is marked
by cigar shaped unlit buoys.

(b) The eastern breakwater extends from land boundary till Hm. 22, and has an occulting red light at its northern end.

(2) Two breakwaters protect the east approach channel. The eastern extends for 2 Km from the land boundary, and the Western extends, for 0.53 Km from the land boundary. Each breakwaters has a small fixed white light on its end.