The Suez Canal Authority has decided that container ships coming from Port of New York and its southern ports heading to South East Asian ports, such as port of Port Kelang and its eastern ports, shall be granted a reduction of 30% of the Suez Canal normal tolls.
Any company wishing to benefit from the reduction has to submit a request before sailing through its shipping agency, the authority said.
The eligibility conditions also stipulate that the vessel must not call any port in between aforementioned two areas provided that vessel’s operator forward a formal declaration about that.
The toll cut took effect on March 7th and is going to be in force for 90 days, ends on June 5, 2016, GAC Egypt said, adding that the reduction is to be renewed.
Based on the authority’s data, during 2015 traffic in the Suez Canal recorded an increase in the number of transiting vessels and total net tonnage, as 17,483 vessels transited the Suez Canal, an increase of 2% compared to 2014. The net tonnages transported through 2015 registered 998.7 million tons in 2015 an increase of 3.7% compared to 2014.
Moreover, the Suez Canal Authority data indicate that the total tonnage of vessels traveling between the East Coast of the United States and the Far East through the Suez Canal has surged from 5 million tons in 2005 to 60 million tons in 2015. That is 12 times higher in 10 years, and is attributed to the Suez Canal’s ability to accommodate the world’s largest ships.