Suez Canal getting over Covid-19-induced challenges

The Suez Canal has managed to overcome the challenges of the past year, including oil prices drop, global economic recession and the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, the cabinet said yesterday.
It added in a report that the Suez Canal Authority applied a series of flexible incentives and promotion and pricing policies that helped this vital water passage to attract new clients.
This was manifest in the record number of ships transiting the canal in the past year, the cabinet said.
It won praise from international institutions for the important role it has been playing in easing the international maritime movement and attracting investments to Egypt, it added.
The cabinet noted that 1.2 billion tonnes of goods transited Suez Canal last year, the second highest in the canal’s history.
It added that Suez Canal revenues amounted to $5.6 billion in 2020, the third highest in its history.
The revenues of the canal between 2016 and 2020 amounted to $27.4 billion, the cabinet said.
Between 2011 and 2015, the revenues of the waterway amounted to $26.1 billion.
The cabinet said international trade dropped by 10 per cent in 2020 and the international economy declined by 4 per cent.