The head of the Suez Canal Authority, Osama Rabi, announced on Tuesday that navigational traffic on the vital waterway in January 2022 had set unprecedented records.
He explained that the achieved figures in terms of number of vessels, net tonnage and revenues were the highest compared to the figures achieved during the consecutive months of January in the history of the channel.
Rabi noted that 1,774 vessels passed through the Suez Canal in both directions in January 2022, compared to 1,594 vessels in January 2021, for a total net tonnage of 106.1 million tons, compared with 104.2 million tons in January 2021.
He explained that the regularity of navigation traffic in the canal had a big impact on the increase in overall revenues, as the Authority’s revenue in January 2022 was about US$ 544.7 million, excluding navigation services, compared to US$ 495.7 million the previous year. the same month last year, up US $ 49 million, an increase of 9.9%.
Rabi added that navigational reports for January 2022 showed a significant increase in the transit speed of various types of vessels compared to the same month last year, as the number of tankers increased by 25.1 percent and container ships passing through the canal by 11 .5 percent.
He emphasized that the movement of ships through the canal in January 2022, which exceeded the transit of ships in the same month in the entire history of the canal, including the last two years 2020 and 2021 (the years of the coronavirus crisis), gives a clear indication of the success of flexible marketing. and pricing policy pursued by management in the context of global economic variables.
Rabi noted that this policy has reduced the negative impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the shipping industry, which has led to customer confidence and the attraction of new shipping lines, as the marketing policy helped to attract 336 ships in January 2022, which is 19 percent of the total number of ships. who crossed the border this month.