275 ships transit Suez Canal in 6 days carrying 15.2m tonnes

Suez Canal traffic data showed that 275 ships transited the canal, with a total load of 15.2m tonnes, from 22 to 27 October.

An average of 45.8 ships transited the canal per day during that period, with an average load of 2.5m tonnes per day. The average load per ship was about 55,270 tonnes during that period.

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

Two major Danish container ships, Mette Maersk and Maren Maersk, transited the canal carrying 200,000 tonnes each.

The number of vessels that passed coming from the west through the northern entrance was 144 vessels, with a daily average of 24 vessels, and a total load of 7.6m tonnes, recording a daily average of 1.27m tonnes.

Meanwhile, 131 ships transited the new channel coming from the south, with a daily average of 21.83 vessels, and a total load of 7.6m tonnes, recording a daily average of 1.26m tonnes.

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

The Suez Canal Authority has been in talks with representatives of a number of shipping lines to discuss the authority’s proposal to paying transit fees in advance in the form of a deposit for a discount of 3% per year.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced last week a decline in the canal’s revenues over fiscal year 2015/206 to $5.1bn—a drop of 4.5% from fiscal year 2014/2015, in which revenues amounted to $5.4bn.

The table shows traffic through the Suez Canal from 22 to 27 October.