322 ships transited Suez Canal last week, with a decline of 5.3%

By Mohamed Ahmed

Suez Canal traffic data revealed that 322 ships transited the canal with a total load of 18.214m tonnes from 30 October to 5 November.

The data also cited that, during the week before, 340 vessels transited the canal, carrying a total load of 18,768m tonnes.

The number of vessels that crossed the canal since the beginning of the year to 5 November amounts to 14,958 vessels.

About 46 ships per day transited the canal on average during the past week with an average load of 2.6m tonnes per day, compared to an average of 49 ships last week; with an average load of 2.68m tonnes.

Average load per ship reached 56,566 tonnes, compared to 55,200 tonnes during the period of comparison.

In July 2015, before the inauguration of the New Suez Canal, the average daily number of transiting vessels totalled 47 vessels, with an average load of 2.758m tonnes per day.

The largest cargo to transit the canal last week weighed 200,706 tonnes on the Al-Muraykh container ship coming from Malta.

Cargo load is the main measure of shipping traffic in the Suez Canal and the calculated transit fees.

About 174 ships transited the canal towards the south, with a daily average of 25 ships and a total load of 10.56m tonnes of cargo, a daily average of 1.437m tonnes.

The number of ships that passed through the new channel coming from the east through the southern entrance was about 148 ships, a daily average of 21 vessels, with total loads of 8.154m tonnes, a daily average of 1.164m tonnes.

The following table shows traffic through the Suez Canal between 30 October and 5 November, 2015: