New transit fees for 2011 will be set and announced by the end of January, Al-Mal cited the Suez Canal Authority as saying.
The SCA denied previous statements, which claimed that the transit fees will not be changed in 2011, but did not state what course of action would be taken, Beltone Financial cited the paper as reporting.
A committee is studying all the factors in setting the new fees, namely changes in international trade, oil prices, number of vessels, in addition to the impact of other competitive routes on the Suez Canal, the Beltone note said.
The authority kept Suez Canal transit fees the same in for the past two years in 2009 and 2010.
An Egyptian maritime expert told Al-Mal that although the global economy has not fully recovered yet, the number of vessels has increased; adding that the structure of international trade has changed, dramatically, leading to China’s new position of being the number two world exporter, which bodes well for the Suez Canal in the medium term.
