Cabinet: Canal still shortest, fastest, most secure navigational passage in the world

The canal is still the shortest, fastest and most secure navigational passage in the world, the center said, highlighting the great efforts being made to develop it and enhance its revenues.

The report also said that the canal managed to deal with international and urgent challenges that followed the global outbreak of the virus and affected the international trade movement.

The canal is totally ready for the expansion and deepening of its course to cope up with the increasing sizes and loads of ships, the report said, adding that the canal is using a VTMS system in order to monitor the movement of sailing ships and interfere in any case of emergency.

Twelve percent of the volume of global trade is crossing through the Suez Canal, the report quoted Bloomberg as saying.

The report added that the total volume of passing ships’ loads increased by 51.1 percent to reach 1.191 million tons in 2020-21 compared to 788 million tons in 2009-10, while the number of ships crossing the canal increased by 8.6 percent to reach 19,000 ships in 2020-21 compared to 17,500 ships in 2009-10.

The canal also registered its highest annual revenues in its history in 2020/21, gaining USD 5.84 billion compared to USD 5.72 billion in 2019/20.

The report also mentioned that the number of ships sailing through the canal increased by 2.3 percent to reach 9,763 in the first half of 2021 compared to 9,546 ships in the same period in 2020.

The ships’ payload increased by 3.8 percent to register 610.1 million tons in the first half of 2021 compared to 587.7 million tons in the same period in 2020, the report said, adding that the canal’s revenues increased by 8.7 percent to register USD three billion in the first half of 2021 versus USD 2.76 billion in the first half of 2020.

The report added that in April 2021 the canal recorded the highest monthly revenue in its history to reach USD 553.6 million.