312 ships transited Suez Canal with total load of 17.77m tonnes last week

Suez Canal traffic data revealed that 312 ships transited the canal with a total load of 17.77m tonnes, from 29 January to 4 February 2016.

About 44.57 ships transited the canal per day on average during the past week, with an average load of 2.54m tons per day. The average load per ship was about 57,000 tonnes during that period.

Prior the inauguration of the New Suez Canal in July 2015, there was a daily average of 47 vessels transiting the canal, with an average load of 2.758m tons per day. Last week, three major Danish ships – Marstal Maersk, Mette Maersk, and Matz Maersk – transited the canal carrying 200,360 tons each.

About 153 ships transited the canal south; the daily average was 21.7 ships and a total load of 8.3m tonnes of cargo, with a daily average of 1.185m tons.

About 160 vessels passed through the new channel coming from the east through the southern entrance with a daily average of 22.85 vessels. The total load was 9.637m tonnes, with a daily average of 1.376m tonne.

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

The Suez Canal recorded revenues of $5.175bn in 2015, a $290m decline from the previous year’s revenue of $5.465bn. The decline resulted from the depreciation of the dollar against currencies used for paying transit fees, the fall of oil prices, and the global economy slowdown.

The following table shows traffic through the Suez Canal between from 29 January to 4 February 2016: