316 ships transit Suez Canal last week, with 6.5% decline

By Mohamed Ahmed

Suez Canal traffic data revealed that 316 ships transited the canal with a total load of 19.088m tonnes from 13 to 19 November.

Data also cited that two weeks before, 338 vessels transited the canal, carrying a total load of 19,388m tonnes.

About 45 ships per day transit the canal on average during the past week with an average load of 2.7m tonnes per day compared to an average of 48 ships two weeks before, with an average load of 2.8m tonnes of cargo.

Average load per ship amounted to 60,404 tonnes, compared to 57,363 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.

Last week, three major ships transited the canal, where each was loaded with about 200,360 tonnes. Those ships are Matz Maersk, Marie Maersk, and Mary Maersk.

Cargo load is the main measure of shipping traffic in the Suez Canal, on which fees for the transit are calculated.

About 156 ships transited the canal heading south with a daily average of 22 ships and a total load of 9.218m tonnes of cargo, a daily average of 1.317m tonnes.

The number of ships that passed through the new channel coming from the east through the southern entrance was about 160 ships, a daily average of 23 vessels, with total loads of 9.870m tonnes, a daily average of 1.409m tonnes.

The following table shows traffic through the Suez Canal between 6 and 12 November, 2015: