Suez Canal sees record turnover in FY 2021-22 owing to rate hikes and brisker traffic

According to the Suez Canal Authority, the important Egyptian waterway Suez Canal obtained an impressive profit of 6.7 billion euros in the financial year started July 2021 and ended June 2022, a 20.7% increase compared with 5.5 billion euros reported in the 2020-21 fiscal year. Despite the fact that the traffic through the Canal was blocked by a container ship Ever Given for a time, the Canal did manage to get record revenues owing to strong demand for corresponding shipments.

Being the shortest shipping route between Asia and Europe and connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, the Canal provided traffic for about 1.32 billion tonnes of various types of goods during July 2021 till June 2022, accounting for about 10 percent of global maritime trade.

Note that the Suez Canal Authority raised the rates twice last fiscal year for ships passing the waterway. Despite a lot of disrupted supplies and the overall anxiety on the freight market caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Canal saw the highest monthly turnover in its history in April 2022, averaging some 605 million euros.

It is worth noting that the Suez Canal remains an important source of foreign currency for Egypt, which is facing high inflation and a depreciation of its currency due to the war in Ukraine. In June, rising commodity prices pushed Egypt’s inflation rate to over 15%, the highest level in three years.