The Suez Canal’s revenues since January to July 2017 amounted to $2.938bn compared to $2.919bn in the same period last year, with an increase of $19m, despite the decrease in the world trade movement in 2015.
On the occasion of the third anniversary of launching the New Suez Canal on 6 August 2015, the Suez Canal issued a report saying that the number of vessels crossing the canal in the first seven months of the current year reached 9,949 vessels compared to 9,745 vessels during the same period last year with an increase 2.1%.
The report added that the recorded cargos registered 585.6 million tonnes compared to 561.5 million tonnes with an increase of 4.3%.
The report noted that the flexible marketing policies followed by Suez Canal Authority led to attracting 6,080 vessels during the period from July 2014 to July 2017, with revenues of $1.3bn.
Furthermore, the New Suez Canal participated in reducing the time period of vessels crossing the canal by seven hours, and the average cost of container vessels amounted to $1,400, which means that the new canal saved about $240m for the vessels during the coming two years.
“100% of containers by the sea between Asia and Europe crossed the Suez Canal after its development,” the report read. “The Suez Canal’s share of container trade has increased between the US East Coast and Southeast Asia to record 52% in 2016 compared to 25% in 2006.
In 2017, the world trade movement began to recover, thus the canal’s revenues in the period from March to July 2017 registered $ 2.167bn compared to $2.105bn during the same period last year with an increase of 3% ($62.2m).
The report noted that the number of vessels during the period from March to July registered 7,294 compared to 7,021 with an increase of 3.9%.
Furthermore, the development of the Suez Canal Authority ferries, where 10 ferries have been established with a load of 320 tonnes during the past two years. Currently, 6 ferries are being developed with an implementation percentage of 80%.
Construction of four tunnels in Port Said and Ismailia, with the length of each tunnel from the car tunnels in Port Said at 2,850 metres and up to 4,050 metres at the entrances and exits, is planned to be completed in June 2018. In Ismailia, there are cars tunnels with a length is 4,830 metres up to 6,830 metres at the entrances and exits, according to the report.
For the Suez Canal aquaculture project, the authority has completed 1,034 aquariums for fish farming in the first phase; while, 502 aquariums were dug in the second phase of the project. The authority targets completing 4,000 aquariums by the end of 2017.
For the feed factory, a tender has been put forward between the international companies, and the offers are being studied. The winning company will be selected in late August 2017.
