321 ships transited Suez Canal from 11-17 December

A total of 321 ships transited through the Suez Canal from 11 to 17 December with a total load of 19.098m tonnes, according to the weekly Suez Canal traffic data released Wednesday.

This marked a 2.5% increase in the number of ships compared to the previous week, during which 313 vessels transited the canal carrying total load of 17.649m tonnes.

An average of 46 ships per day transit the canal throughout the past week with an average load of 2.7m tonnes per day compared to an average of 45 ships during the previous week with an average load of 2.8m tonnes.

The average per ship load was 59,500 tonnes compared to 55,811 tonnes during the previous week.

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

Last week, two major Danish ships, the Majestic Maersk and Matz Maersek, transited through the canal carrying 200,360 tonnes each. Cargo load is the main measure of shipping traffic in the Suez Canal, as fees for the transit are calculated based on the load.

A total of 177 ships transited through the canal heading south, with a daily average of 25 ships and a total load of 9.688m tonnes of cargo, a daily average of 1.38m tonnes.

The number of ships that passed through the new channel coming from the east through the southern entrance was 144 ships, a daily average of 21 vessels, with a total load of 9.4m tonnes, a daily average of 1.344m tonnes.

The Suez Canal data revealed that revenues decline to $408.4m in November compared to $449.2m in October, marking the lowest revenue since February when revenues recorded $382m.

The number of vessels transiting the canal also dropped to 1,401 from 1,500 in October.

The following table shows traffic through the Suez Canal between 11 and 17 December, 2015: