The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced on Friday an increase in revenues from fees for the passage of ships through the Suez Canal in the Red Sea to $2.4 billion, during the first quarter of the fiscal year 2023-2024.
During the period from July to September 2023, the revenues of the canal increased by 19.4%, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said on Friday. It added that during the same period of the previous fiscal year, the revenues were only about $2 billion.
The increase in revenues came as a result of an increase in the net tonnage of transit ships by an average of 8.2%, recording about 403.1 million tons, the CBE explained.
The bank also pointed out that the number of ships in transit increased by an average of 4.3% during the period from July to September 2023.
The Suez Canal on the Red Sea is the fastest and shortest route from the Atlantic to the Indian ocean, as it saves sea voyage between the Asian and European continents by 9 days to two weeks, depending on the ports of call and arrival.
In recent weeks, the fighters of the Yemeni movement "Ansar Allah", also known as the Houthis, have been targeting ships that, as the movement claims, have links to Israel or are going to or coming from the Jewish state, in response to the Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip, described by many as atrocities.
Earlier, a number of international shipping companies announced that they would divert to other routes (e.g. around the Cape of Good Hope) all their ships that were scheduled to pass through the Red Sea in the "foreseeable future". The companies attributed this to the continuing "significantly high" security risks.