Cheap Suez?
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) issued a circular in mid-October announcing an increase of between 5% and 15% in transit fees for most segments of trade vessels.
Yet this surcharge, which will come into effect from 15 January 2024, will exclude container units arriving from the ports of Northwest Europe and Tangier which are destined for the Far East and Southeast Asia.
Crude and product tankers, gas carriers, LNG carriers, chemical tankers, other tankers, car carriers, cruise ships, special floating units and those container ships that fall outside the aforementioned conditions will have to face an increase in their tolls of 15%.
The other categories, - bulk carriers, general cargo vessels, ro-ro and other vessels not included in the previous segments - will have to pay a surcharge of 5% for transiting the Suez Canal.
It should be remembered that the SCA achieved record revenues of USD 9.4 billion in fiscal year 2022/2023, compared to USD 7 billion FY 2021/2022. (cd)