351 ships transit Suez Canal carrying 21.3m tonnes in past week

Suez Canal traffic data showed that 351 ships transited the canal, with a total load of 21.306m tonnes, from 26 August to 1 September.

An average of 50 ships transited the canal per day during that period, with an average load of 3m tonnes per day. The average load per ship was about 60,070 tonnes during that period.

Compared to 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.

Five major container ships—three Danish Marchen Maersk, Marstal Maersk and Majestic Maersk, as well as Parazan and Almuraykj from Malta—transited the canal carrying 200,360 tonnes each.

The number of vessels that passed through the new channel coming from the west through the northern entrance was 169 vessels, with a daily average of 24 vessels, and a total load of 9.856m tonnes, recording a daily average of 1.408m tonnes.

Meanwhile, 182 ships transited the canal coming from the south, with a daily average of 26 vessels, and a total load of 11.46m tonnes, recording a daily average of 1.637m tonnes.

Vice Admiral Mohab Mamish, chairperson of the Suez Canal Authority, announced during the anniversary of opening the new canal that revenues have increased by 4% since January 2016 until August, recording a total of $3.2bn.

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

The following table shows traffic through the Suez Canal between from 26 August to 1 September 2016: