Captain \ Tarik Shaheen, Chairman of Alexandria Port Authority, directed all concerned departments in Alex. Port to put full preparedness and alertness around the clock in the rainy season, to follow procedures instructionsissued of bad weather. Captain \ Shaheen said that :the instructions, preparations and procedures that were instructed and stressed on all departments to follow before the winter season included monitoring the weather situation on a regular basis through weather forecasts (measuring wind speed, wave height and air pressure) for a period of five future days, putting regulations to take the decision of closing the navigation waterway after approved by the concerned authority, after closing the navigational waterway, the weather is monitored periodically at least every hour, the navigation waterway is opened if the weather conditions improves, the air-water report is also broadcasted on all ships in the waiting areas and the departures inside the port, the regulations of the berthing of ships (mooring on berths - departure - internal movements) are determined according to the types of ships and the nature of the cargoes in accordance with the conditions and obligations agreed upon and the condition of the weather at the time, the monitoring of ships and marine units in the water surface, berths, navigation waterway, immediate reporting of any unusual movements of the Operations Center and Crisis Management. Captain \ Shaheen added that the ships on the internal anchorage and the outer anchorage are warned by affirming that the ship's anchors must be in a good and safe manner and to ensure that an appropriate distance is left between the ships, to provide assistance in case if needed, immediate report to the Operations Center and Crisis Management about receiving any distress signals from any ship, ships are notified to cover all the holdings (cargo deck) of the ships to protect the cargoes from damage, as well as inspection of the rain drainage networks in roads, yards, berths and roofs of buildings to ensure their suitability for work, maintenance of all the shoals, sewage openings, manholes located inside the port, to ensure that they work efficiently, rapid emergency teams of technicians (sanitation - electricity - services) prepared to deal immediately with any malfunctions or emergency situations and to equip water-lift pumps and inspect the water suction machines and mobile water-tow pumps for the withdrawal of water pools and scavenging vehicles located in the port and to ensure their technical validity, as well as equipping mobile water tanks. Shaheen explained that the instructions also included going through the main and backup generators for lighting, ensuring that there is sufficient fuel and the validity of the batteries for immediate work, providing mobile electrical generators to quickly push them to any area that needs lighting, or the electricity has been cut off in it, as well as raising the level of maximum readiness for rescue and diving crews equipping marine units and fire units, raising the level of maximum readiness for tugs, service and firefighting boats, reviewing fire-fighting equipment, restricting damage and ensuring its safety, with the formation of working groups to confront emergency events and rapid intervention for repairs, as well as preparing necessary ropes of the ship's mooring to tighten ships moorings when needed, preparing tugs for their use, tightening mooring ropes of all the marine units berthing at the port (ships - tugs - launches), periodic and continuous inspection of the berths to monitor the mooring ropes fastening and safety of the ships on berths and to immediately report to the Operations Center about any defects. The bad weather precautions include increasing the number of shifts and training them to continue working for longer times in order to ensure the continuity of work and not to stop it if the heavy rain hinders the attendance of workers to the port, the readiness of the operations center and the management of the crisis in the port around the clock and its constant contact with the governorate operations centers, police, maritime transport sector, Ministry of Transport, port radio, ships, port administration departments and other concerned authorities, continuous coordination with the central administration of the movement. obtaining the monitoring periodically - every hour at least - and also includes coordination with the Civil Protection Department to ensure the readiness of fire trucks and their readiness to move upon request, and continuous monitoring of all port facilities and port water surface through the camera monitoring system, periodic passage to the port facilities to discover any emergency events and inspect conditions and discover events before they happening. Captain \ Tarik Shaheen added that the instructions included continuous coordination with the Maritime Services Department, making sure of the degree of readiness of marine units, receiving any reports, taking the necessary approvals for any action taken to confront emergency events, immediate reporting to the competent authority and higher management and coordination of cooperation between all the different departments and notifying the parties Concerned with any emergency events, the Crisis Committee prepares when needed, and the Operations Center manages emergency events and collects data and information until the Crisis Management Committee attends, The center also implements pre-prepared scenarios to confront any emergency event and ensure the implementation of the emergency plan, prepare a detailed report on the emergency event explaining the reasons and measures taken, the positives and negatives, recommendations to avoid such an event, the instructions included that the operations center inspect buildings and berths and immediately report any emergency event. Cranes and belts are removed from the berths to prevent parts of them from falling, and warehouse outlets are tightened to ensure that the cargoes are not exposed to flying or damage. Instructions include stopping stevedoring operations and preventing the presence of workers in shipping and unloading companies on the roofs of ships and cranes towers in case of bad weather, Central Department of Technical and Maritime Services prepares (loader - bulldozer - Clark - cranes) as well as rubble equipment for immediate action when needed to return things to what it must also be equipped with the hydraulic ladder car to be used for the purposes designated for it when needed, Civil Protection Department raises the state of readiness if bad weather is predicted. Preparations include securing the port's power stations, equipping emergency crews and preparing them to face risks, continuous coordination with the port operations center and continuous follow-up with the authority’s operations center to know meteorological forecasts and participating in confrontation actions. Reda Al-Ghandour, the official spokesman for the port, said that : The specialists from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the port pass through the stevedoring companies to ensure the validity of the cranes and equipment for work, to inspect the existing firefighting and firefighting equipment and ensure their suitability, they also inspect the buildings and ensure the implementation of evacuation plans from workers, passing over the roofs of buildings and making sure that there are no debris or stagnant ones, as well as passing through the yards of companies storing containers and making sure that safety requirements are followed in storage operations. Al-Ghandour added that the precautions for bad weather include the intensification of the security presence on buildings, gates, docks, yards and ships left on the docks, and it includes the medical administration at the port equipping the ambulance, equipment and medical devices, passing through the departments to review first aid boxes to ensure the presence of adequate first aid tools and coordination with the hospitals surrounding the port for rapid transportation of the injured in the event in case of any injuries, as well as coordination with the Ministry of Health to seek the help of external ambulances if needed. Al-Ghandour explained that there are 18 wind-sea storms throughout the year, with a total of about 70 days, through our experience, the navigation waterway is closed for only 30 to 35 days per year according to the statistics of the last five years, the closure of the navigation waterway is not intended to close the port, but rather it is intended not to allow ships to enter or exit from and to the port, during the closure of the navigation waterway, the loading and unloading operations are carried out normally, except for the cargoes that are affected by rain and are not unloaded during heavy rain. 19/10/2020