JEDDAH, 25 August 2006 — Egypt’s Tourism Minister Zohair Garanah has said that the Egyptian government has introduced six new vessels with an aim of increasing the number of ferries in the Red Sea traveling between the Kingdom and Egypt.
The move comes following reports of drop in numbers of pilgrims from the country with limited number of ferries operating between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Recent media reports reveal that thousands of Egyptian pilgrims planning to perform Umrah in the month of Shaban (Aug. 25-Sept. 23) will have to drop their plans because of inadequate travel arrangements.
The fear of more than 20,000 Egyptian pilgrims was spurred by a report that three Egyptian vessels, carrying travelers between the Kingdom and Egypt, had stopped operating. One of the ferries has been docked due to mechanical problems and the other two have adopted routes different to the officially announced trip chart without making any substitute arrangements, a local newspaper reported.
Nasser Turki, member of the council of the chambers of the tourist companies and member of the permanent committee for Haj and Umrah, said: “The tour operators booked seats in advance in the three ships on the basis of the trip charts issued by the Egyptian Transport Ministry. On the basis of this booking they also reserved hotel rooms and buses for transportation in the holy cities. However the last minute changes led to a major loss for he companies.”
The situation will be further complicated as the Egyptian Tourism Ministry announced yesterday as the last date for the finalization of the Umrah processing.
According to Tareq Al-Marzouqi, chairman of the transport committee of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the decommissioning of several old unsafe vessels has been a matter of concern for passengers traveling between Kingdom and Egypt.
The shortage of vessels triggers a severe crisis during the Haj and Umrah seasons, he said. The majority of victims of the cancelation of ferry services are mainly poor Egyptian pilgrims who cannot afford expensive flights.
Other factors, apart from the shortage of ferries, too have led to the reduced number of pilgrims arriving in the Kingdom.
The Egyptian transport minister said his ministry has been trying to make the land route via Aqaba an effective alternative pilgrim route. It is with this aim that the ministry has invited tenders from Saudi companies to transport pilgrims from Aqaba to the holy cities in buses.
Emad Abdul Aziz, an Umrah tour operator who has been operating in the Kingdom for the past 20 years, too confirmed that the number of Egyptian Umrah pilgrims had decreased over the past three months. Emad estimates that their number would be at around 177,000 in the three months of August, September and October — 60 percent less than the same period last year.
He attributes the fall in numbers of pilgrims to the crisis in the ferry service. He also cited several other reasons including the suspension of 130 Umrah service companies by the Saudi and Egyptian authorities.
He said that the new quota system, which allowed only 45 Umrah visas for each company was another reason why the number of pilgrims had gone down drastically in recent months. Another reason, according to him, for the downward trend in the pilgrims’ number is the decision to limit the Saudi British Bank to issue bank guarantees to Saudi Umrah agencies.
In the past three years the Al-Rajhi, Saudi American Bank and Saudi Hollandi Bank were also allowed to issue guarantees.
On the issue of safety, the head of a ocean consultancy group says that it is only recently that safety has become an issue, and even now many do not meet the required standards. Capt. Muhammad Aboud Babaydan, head of the Capt. Muhammad Aboud Center for Oceanic Studies and Consultancy and Arbitration, said the ships serving presently in the Saudi-Egyptian lane are not dependable in terms of safety. The issue of safety has come to the fore after the recent Al-Salam 98 tragedy in the Red Sea resulting in the death of several passengers.
He also doubted the reliability of safety arrangements of all vessels more than 25 years old. “The depreciating safety-system in old vessels emphasizes the need for replacing the current vessels with safer ones,” he said.
