Suez Canal Records Over 20 Percent Increase in Revenue in November

Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced that it achieved a significant increase of 20.3 percent with the canal’s revenue reaching $854.7 million in November 2023, compared to $710.3 million in November 2022, showing a difference of $144.4 million.

The navigation statistics for the canal in November have set new and unprecedented records in terms of the number of ships, net tonnage, and generated revenues, making it the highest compared to the performance rates achieved during consecutive Novembers in the canal's history, according to a statement issued by the SCA Chairman Osama Rabie.

Rabie explained that the navigation movement in the canal during November 2023 saw the passage of 2,264 ships in both directions, compared to 2,171 ships in November 2022, with a difference of 93 ships, representing an increase of 4.3 percent.

The total net tonnage reached 135.5 million tons, compared to 125.2 million tons in November 2022, with a difference of 10.3 million tons, reflecting an increase of 8.2 percent.

He emphasized that the consecutive unprecedented indicators in the navigation statistics are a direct result of the success of development projects, navigational services, and the support of the political leadership in raising the canal's ranking and increasing its numerical and absorptive capacity to accommodate the growth rates of global trade.

The flexible pricing and marketing policies adopted by the authority, according to him, have also succeeded in attracting ships crossing for the first time, numbering 387 ships with a total revenue of $71.8 million during November.

He highlighted the vital importance of the development project in the southern sector of the canal, with a 28 percent positive impact on increasing navigational safety rates in this important sector.

The actual impact has been observed in preventing the deviation of several ships that experienced emergency technical malfunctions during their passage within the project area.

Rabie also pointed out the completion of the first phase of the southern sector development project and the expansion project, expanding the canal by 40 metres to the east, from kilometre 132 to kilometre 162.

He added that work is underway on new navigation charts after moving the canal's midline (axis of the canal) as a result of the expansion project to the new axis in coordination with the Maritime Survey Department of the Egyptian Navy.

Rabie clarified that the completion rate in the second part of the project at the location of the canal duplication project in the Small Bitter Lake region from kilometre 122 to kilometre 132 reached 76 percent, with a total dredging quantity of 41.5 million cubic metres of saturated sand.

In October, Egypt's SCA announced an increase in transit fees by 5-15 percent starting as of 15 January 2024.

During the fiscal year 2022/2023, Suez Canal revenues surged by 25.2 percent on a year-on-year basis to record $8.8 billion due to a 17.6 percent increase in the number of vessels passing through the canal in the same year, reaching about 26,000 vessels.