Suez Canal transit fees up nearly 3%
Transit fees for ships using Egypt's Suez Canal increased on Sunday by an average of nearly 3 per cent, the canal authority said, in the second such increase in a year.
Director of public relations Mohammed Mussa said the change took effect at Saturday midnight, as originally announced by the authority in December.
Fees rose 3.5 per cent for cargo ships, 3.73 per cent for oil tankers and only 1.14 per cent for passenger liners. Other types of ships, including naval vessels, had a 2.84 per cent increase.
The authority, which has run the canal since its nationalisation in 1956, last raised fees in March 2006, also by 3 per cent.
The last fee increase contributed to the canal's massive revenues of US$3.82 billion in 2006, up from US$3.4 billion the previous year, a number expected to increase in 2007 with a forecast 7.6 per cent rise in global trade, largely driven by India and China.
Currently, some 7.5 per cent of the world's trade passes through the canal.
Egypt is in talks with China to ensure that close to 100 per cent of Chinese exports to Europe pass through the Suez Canal - up from the current 60 per cent - in exchange for lower transit fees.
Director of public relations Mohammed Mussa said the change took effect at Saturday midnight, as originally announced by the authority in December.
Fees rose 3.5 per cent for cargo ships, 3.73 per cent for oil tankers and only 1.14 per cent for passenger liners. Other types of ships, including naval vessels, had a 2.84 per cent increase.
The authority, which has run the canal since its nationalisation in 1956, last raised fees in March 2006, also by 3 per cent.
The last fee increase contributed to the canal's massive revenues of US$3.82 billion in 2006, up from US$3.4 billion the previous year, a number expected to increase in 2007 with a forecast 7.6 per cent rise in global trade, largely driven by India and China.
Currently, some 7.5 per cent of the world's trade passes through the canal.
Egypt is in talks with China to ensure that close to 100 per cent of Chinese exports to Europe pass through the Suez Canal - up from the current 60 per cent - in exchange for lower transit fees.