Record number of vessels transit the Suez Canal in a day
The Suez Canal recorded the highest daily transit rate in its history on Monday, with 107 ships traversing in both directions and net tonnage amounting to 6.3 million mt, said Suez Canal Authority’s (SZA) chairman Ossama Rabiee.
PHOTO: Crude oil tanker Minerva Baltica passing through the Suez Canal. SZA
The total included 56 southbound vessels with a net tonnage of 3.4 million mt and 51 northbound vessels with a net tonnage of 2.9 million mt through the canal.
Rabbiee attributed the spike in number of vessels transiting the canal to the New Suez Canal project that has expanded the canal’s capability and readiness to accommodate mega vessels. The New Suez Canal project created a new canal that runs parallel to the already existing one.
A diverse group of vessels transited the canal on Monday. 25 container ships, 28 bulk carriers, 33 tankers, 6 car carriers and 15 other vessels varying from multi-purpose vessels to general cargo vessels transited the canal.
The southbound convoy was headed by the Ever Gifted, which was on a voyage from Greece to Malaysia with 223,000 mt of cargo. The northbound convoy was led by Cosco Shipping Universe on its way from Greece from Singapore with 232,000 mt of cargo.
Several global oil and gas trade routes have been upwended since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to sanctions on Moscow. This has increased demand for oil and gas tankers to move products over longer distances.
The Suez Canal has been seeing increasing vessel traffic over the past few months, with a daily number of vessel transits increasing from an average of 65 in December to 70 in January. Daily tanker transits were up from 19 to 20 in January, and to 22 in February.
The SZA recently decided to increase the surcharges imposed on loaded crude oil and petroleum product tankers from 15% to 25% of normal transit fees, and from 5% to 15% for empty tankers moving in both directions.
SZA recorded revenues of $802 million in January – the highest in its history.
By Tuhin Roy
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