320 ships transited Suez Canal with total load of 16.4m tonnes last week

Suez Canal traffic data revealed that 320 ships transited the canal, with a total load of 16.4m tonnes, from 11 to 17 March 2016.

On average, 45.71 ships transited the canal per day during the past week, with an average load of 2.34m tonnes per day. The average load per ship was about 51,250 tonnes.

Prior to 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 tonnes per day.

Last week, two major Danish ships—Munkebo Maersk and Morten Maersk—transited the canal with 200,360 tonnes each.

About 170 ships transited the canal towards the south, with a daily average of 24.3 ships and a total load of 9.1m tonnes of cargo, a daily average of 1.28m tonnes.

The number of vessels that passed through the new channel coming from the east through the southern entrance was 150 vessels, with a daily average of 21.42 vessels, and a total load of 7.3m tonnes, with a daily average of 1.04m tonnes.

Cargo load is the main measure of 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 when they stood at $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 economic slowdown.

The following table shows traffic through the Suez Canal between from 11 to 17 March 2016: