Today, Friday, the Egyptian cabinet denied that ships were taking alternative routes to the Suez Canal as a result of the decision to raise the canal’s transit fees from January 2023.
A statement by the Egyptian government, published on its official Facebook account (the activities of the Meta company, which includes the Facebook and Instagram platforms, is banned in Russia as extremist activity) stated that certain websites and pages on social media spread news about ships following alternative routes to the Suez Canal as a result of the decision to increase the transit fees in the canal from January 2023.
The statement added that the media center of the Council of Ministers contacted the administration of the Suez Canal, which denied the news.
The Suez Canal Authority emphasized that it is wrong for ships to choose alternative routes to the Suez Canal as a result of the decision to increase canal transit fees from January 2023, emphasizing that the administration applies a balanced and flexible pricing and marketing system. a strategy that achieves common interests with its customers and takes into account global economic conditions and their changes with clear mechanisms to keep pace with its pricing policy, by estimating ship transit fees based on savings that are proportional to the fees achieved by the channel for transit vessels to ensure that channel leadership remains the best, fastest, shortest choice for customers, and at the lowest cost compared to competing methods.
The authorities explained that the decision to increase the canal crossing fees was made in light of market developments in the maritime transport sector, which indicate the continued growth of daily time charter categories for most types of vessels and expectations that they will continue over the next year, as well as the high rates of global inflation, which led to an increase in the cost of operation and maintenance and the provision of navigation services by the canal.
Authorities indicated that “The Suez Canal continues to set unprecedented records as canal shipping statistics recorded in the third quarter of 2022 represent new records that are the highest compared to quarterly transit figures in the history of the canal. , as 6,252 ships with a total net tonnage of 372.7 million tons crossed between July and September of this year, generating $2.1 billion in revenue.