Suez Canal traffic data showed that 263 ships transited the canal, with a total load of 15.8m tonnes, from 12-17 November.

An average of 43.83 ships transited the canal per day during that period, with an average load of 2.63m tonnes per day. The average load per ship was about 60,070 tonnes during that period.

Compared to July 2015, before the inauguration of the New Suez Canal, the average daily number of transiting vessels totaled 47 vessels, with an average load of 2.758m tonnes a day.

Four major Danish container ships, Maribo Maersk, Marie Maersk, Mary Maersk, and Marit Maersk, as well as two vessels from Malta, Eihma and Barsan, transited the canal.

The number of vessels that passed coming from the west through the northern entrance was 133 vessels, with a daily average of 22.6 vessels, and a total load of 7.4m tonnes, recording a daily average of 1.23m tonnes.

Meanwhile, 130 ships transited the new channel coming from the south, with a daily average of 21.66 vessels, and a total load of 8.4m tonnes, recording a daily average of 1.4m tonnes.

Cargo load is the main measure of shipping traffic in the Suez Canal and the calculated transit fees.

The Suez Canal Authority has been in talks with representatives of a number of shipping lines to discuss the authority’s proposal to pay transit fees in advance in the form a deposit for a discount of 3-5% per year.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced last week that the canal’s revenues over the fiscal year (FY) 2015/2016 declined to $5.1bn—a drop of 4.5% from FY 2014/2015, in which revenues amounted to $5.4bn.

The following table shows traffic through the Suez Canal from 12-17 November 2016: