Egypt cuts transit fees through Suez Canal by half

The Egyptian government announced yesterday that transit rates for container vessels in the northern and southern Suez ports will be reduced from between 3 – 50 per cent depending on the number of containers they carry.

Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority Mohab Mamish announced that this will begin on 1 October.

In July Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority offered a discount of up to 45 per cent to large oil tankers en route from the US to the Gulf.

Through these measures Egypt aims to attract international shipping traffic through the Suez Canal and present it as a safe and fast route to secure trade exchange between the East and the West.

Read more: Suez Canal Authority denies refusing passage to Iranian warships

With rates that did not exceed 0.7 per cent, revenue from the Suez Canal rose by $2.738 billion dollars during the first seven months of this year, compared to the same period in 2016.

During a press conference in Cairo Mamish, who is also the president of the economic district of the Suez Canal, said that “reducing prices will not affect the quality of shipping services provided to vessels”.

Reductions granted to vessels carrying more than 200 containers went up to 3 per cent, whereas vessels carrying 500 transit containers enjoyed an 8 per cent reduction which goes up to 50 per cent for vessels whose transit containers are more than 3,333.

Due to several factors, mainly the slow growth of global trade, Suez Canal revenues fell by 3.2 per cent to $5 billion in 2016, compared to $5.175 billion in 2015.