The Chairman and Managing Director of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) Osama Rabie said that traffic in the Suez Canal made new records in the numbers and tonnage of vessels transiting, as well as daily revenues achieved since the beginning of 2020.
Rabie said in a statement that navigation statistics recorded on Saturday showed the crossing of 72 ships from both directions, with a total net tonnage of four million tons, achieving daily revenues of US$19.2 million.
On the first day of January, navigation traffic recorded transit of 60 ships with a total net tonnage of 4.8 million tons and revenues of $20.9 million, while on January 6, 66 ships crossed the waterway with a total net tonnage of 3.8 million tons, recording daily revenues of $18.4 million.
Rabie said he was optimistic that the navigation statistics will see a surge during this year in the numbers and tonnage of ships crossing the canal, with growing revenues achieved in light of a strategy to develop navigation services.
Developing the channel’s navigation course tops the priorities for the work agenda in the near future, in light of the great interest this receives from political leadership, he added.
In 2019 the Suez Canal accommodated 18,880 vessels compared to 18,174 vessels during 2018, marking an increase of 3.9 percent while the total net tonnage accommodated through the Suez Canal reached 1.2 billion tons in 2019, compared to 1.1 billion tons in 2018 – representing an increase of 5.9 percent.
The amount of cargoes transiting the Suez Canal also increased by 4.9 percent, from 983 million tons in 2018 to 1031 million tons in 2019, and the achieved revenues increased from $5.7 billion in 2018 to $5.8 billion in 2019, marking an increase of 1.3 percent.