Safaga Shipyard Launches Two 90-Tonne Tugs and Starts a 50,000-Square-Metre Industrial Zone
The Suez Canal Authority chief and the Red Sea governor attended the launch of two 'Azm' class tugs at the South Red Sea Shipyard in Safaga, along with the handover of two new passenger launches and work on a free industrial zone with three factories.
26 September 2026
Two new tugs were launched and two passenger excursion launches handed over at the South Red Sea Shipyard Company in Safaga this week, with Suez Canal Authority chairman Admiral Osama Rabie and Red Sea Governor Dr Walid El-Barqi attending, according to Twasl News.
The two tugs are of the "Azm" class, with a bollard pull of up to 90 tonnes, and are the fifth and sixth in the series built at the Misr Tugboat Factory. Each measures 32 metres long and 13.5 metres wide, with a draught of six metres and a speed of 12 knots.
The ceremony also covered the handover of the first "Bahr" class excursion launches, produced at the fibreglass factory of Suez Canal Modern Boats Company:
- Bahr 1 and Bahr 2, built from wood and fibreglass
- 15 passengers each, 17 metres long and 5 metres wide
- a speed of 21 knots
- to be operated for marine tourism on the Suez Canal
Final operating trials were also carried out on two export "Azm" tugs, ahead of their delivery to the Italian company NERI.
What is being built in Safaga
Rabie and El-Barqi opened a new administrative building at the shipyard covering 1,110 square metres, containing offices, a conference hall, a meeting room, a dining hall and reception rooms.
Rabie also inspected construction on the free industrial zone of Suez Canal Modern Boats Company, which covers close to 50,000 square metres. The zone is planned to hold three factories, two storage yards — one covered, one open — an administrative building, a residential building and a mosque. An Omani delegation visited the yard during the tour to see its shipbuilding activity.
Rabie said the authority is aiming to widen the localisation of marine unit manufacturing by building integrated industrial communities serving the Suez Canal and Egypt's ports, and to open new export markets. El-Barqi praised the authority's work on localising the industry.
The reports give no figure for how many people the shipyard or the new industrial zone employ, no cost for the zone and no completion date for it. For Safaga, a town whose economy runs on its port, phosphate and passing tourism, three more factories on 50,000 square metres is the most concrete industrial commitment reported there this year.