290 ships carrying 16.2m tonnes transit the Suez Canal last week

Suez Canal traffic data indicated that 290 ships transited the canal with a total load of 16.2m tonnes between 1 and 7 April 2016.

An average of 41.4 ships transited the canal per day during the past week, with an average load of 2.3m tonnes per day. The average load per ship was about 55,900 tonnes.

Compared to July 2015, before 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, four Danish container ships—Marstal Mayview, Mathhilda Maersk, Maren Maersk, and Magleby Maersk—transited the canal.

A total of 137 ships transited the canal towards the south, with a daily average of 19.57 ships and a total load of 9.1m tonnes of cargo, marking a daily average of 2.054m tonnes.

The number of vessels that passed through the new channel coming from the east through the southern entrance was 153 vessels, with a daily average of 21.86 vessels, and a total load of 8.9m tonnes, recording a daily average of 1.27m tonnes.

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

During last February, Suez Canal revenues rose to $401.4m compared with revenues of $382m in the same month last year, an increase of 5.08%.

February saw the crossing of 1,300 ships in total, carrying 77.716m tonnes of cargo compared to about 1,219 ships with 73.021m tonnes of cargo during the same period last year.

The following table shows traffic through the Suez Canal between 1-7 April 2016: