EMEA News
Expanded Suez Canal Sees Dip in Revenue, Traffic
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) says that, in addition to an overall traffic drop compared to the previous month, Egypt's revenues from the newly expanded canal declined to $448.8 million during the month of September from $462.1 million during August, Egyptian media reports.
The number of ships transiting the canal in September is reported to have declined from 1,585 in August to 1,515.
Further, the SCA is said to have indicated that revenues of the canal within the first nine months of 2015 has dropped by $207 million year over year from $4.09 billion in 2014, to $3.88 billion this year.
However, the authority notes that the overall number of ships using the canal during the same period increased from 12,646 last year to 13,144 in 2015.
Agrus reports that there has been "no significant increase" in the canal's oil tanker traffic as a result of the expansion, having only grown slightly between July and August, and falling back down in September, indicating that the short lived traffic increase may have been a result of seasonal demand increase during the month of August.
In July, canal officials said they expected the expansion to boost revenues from the canal from $5 billion per year to $15 billion per year by 2023, but an analysis from Argus at the time questioned whether the Suez Canal is capable of better accommodating the traffic rise seen since 2011 or encouraging further traffic to utilise the canal.
