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 transports over one million passengers a year and is the largest private shipping company in the Middle East. El Salam gained media attention in 2006 after the , 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). 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 References External links El Salam Maritime Transport official website El Salam Group International Maritime Organization Ferry companies of Egypt Transport organisations based in Egypt