Mega project tow: floating dock sailed through Suez Canal

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) assisted 2013-built deepsea tugboat Persistence to tow large floating dock, Green Dock 3, from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean at the beginning of December 2025.

This 290-m floating dock, with a beam of 57 m and a draught of 8 m, was towed from Indonesia to Turkey via the Arabian Sea, Red Sea, Bab el-Mandab Strait and the Suez Canal.

This project tow was assisted by four of the SCA’s own tugs, crews and pilots during the canal journey, which took 24 hours and required special navigational measures due to the dock being a non-self-propelled unit.

SCA chairman and managing director Ossama Rabiee described this project as a “mega tow” as this dock weighs around 42,000 tonnes.

The transit was made possible by widening the southern section of the canal by 40 m, thereby increasing its capacity to accommodate vessels that were previously unable to transit.

Adm Rabiee said the route from Indonesia to Turkey through the Suez Canal of around 6,000 nautical miles was 48% shorter than sailing via the Cape of Good Hope, saving fuel and almost 1,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.