Egypt’s Suez Canal revenues rise to $3.8bn

Egypt’s Suez Canal revenues rose 12 per cent during the first eight months of 2018, reaching $3.819 billion compared to $3.408 billion during the same period last year, the state-owned Suez Canal Authority (SCA) reported yesterday.

Throughout August, SCA pointed out, the canal revenues rose by 6.7 per cent, or $502.2 million, compared to $470.6 million during the same month in 2017.

On 6 August 2015, Egypt dug a new international extension to the Suez Canal, anticipating that the move “would uplift the canal’s revenues to $13.2 billion by 2023”.

Following the project’s completion, the Egyptian government has provided discounts and grants for major shipping lines as well as flexible policies to maintain trade flow rates and a slight growth in revenues. In July 2017, the SCA offered an up to 45 per cent discount for large oil tankers en route from the US to the Gulf.

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The Suez Canal, the shortest route to maritime trade between Europe and Asia, is one of the main sources of foreign currency for a country that has struggled to overcome a crippling dollar shortage since an uprising in 2011 that has caused an exodus of foreign investors and tourists.

Traffic through the waterway linking the Mediterranean and Red Sea has been hit as result of the slowdown in global trade and the decline of oil prices.