RIYADH: Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority took in $2.08 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2023, a 40 percent increase on the same period a year earlier, it has been revealed.
The authority announced that navigation traffic in the canal recorded a significant increase since the beginning of this year with 5,534 ships passing, which is a 19 percent increase from 4,660 ships during the same period in 2022.
It also reported that the canal’s net tonnage climbed by 16 percent during the same period, totaling 320 million tons, up from 275 million tons the previous year.
Speaking at the flying of the Egyptian flag on the locomotive ‘Amin Zaid’ event, Osama Rabie, head of the SCA, said the Suez Canal's revenues in March were new and unprecedented in terms of daily transit figures.
Rabie acknowledged that strategic planning had a significant impact in mitigating the negative repercussions of numerous global economic challenges and even attaining an unparalleled increase in canal navigation rates, according to Sada ElBalad English
The Suez Canal had the highest daily transit rate in its history in March, with 107 ships through from both directions without waiting, totaling 6.3 million tons of net tonnage.
In early January, the SCA enforced its decision about ship crossing fees, which is to increase transit rates for all types of ships transiting the canal by 15 percent during the year 2023, while transit fees for both dry bulk boats and cruise ships increased by 10 percent.
Also in January, SCA reported a 25 percent increase in its annual revenue earning $8 billion in transit fees in 2022, compared to $6.3 billion netted in 2021, following a series of toll hikes to help pad Egypt’s siphoned foreign reserves.
