El Salam Maritime Transport
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El Salam Maritime Transport is an Egyptian ferry operator that operates a fleet of fifteen vessels on Red Sea routes between ports in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The company is the largest private shipping company[citation needed] in Egypt, and transports over one million passengers a year.
El Salam gained media attention in 2006 after the MV al-Salam Boccaccio 98, sank on 2 February 2006 in the Red Sea en route from Duba, Saudi Arabia, to Safaga in southern Egypt, with the loss of over 1000 lives. This ship, among others in the same class, were supposed to end their career in 2010, but after the Boccaccio 98 disaster all remaining (3) vessels were sold to an Indian scrapyard (one other had burned out and sank already in 2002).
[edit] Routes operated
- Suez, Egypt — Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Safaga, Egypt — Duba and Jeddah, both in Saudi Arabia
- Nuweiba, Egypt — Aqaba, Jordan
- Hurghada, Egypt — Duba, Saudi Arabia