Egypt: The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) will apply new increases to electronic fees as part of the corridor's transit rights

As well as being a strategic corridor for global shipping, the Suez Canal is a major source of foreign currency for Egypt, which announced before the Red Sea crisis that it wanted to increase its revenues to USD 13 billion by 2025.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) will apply new increases to electronic fees, as part of the corridor’s transit rights. These fees will increase from USD 50 to USD 300 from 1 September 2024, before rising to USD 500 in January 2025, according to a recent circular from the operator.

Some ships will be exempt from these charges, however, says the SCA, notably “those exempt from transit fees and small floating units (whose gross tonnage on the Suez Canal is less than 300 tonnes, with the exception of naval vessels)”.

These planned fee increases will follow other increases applied in recent years, justified by traffic growth, ongoing extension work and reforms to improve services. The increase in fees comes after the announcement of a turnover of USD 9 billion for the current 2024-2025 financial year, despite the tensions in the Red Sea.

Since November 2023, these problems have been affecting Suez Canal revenues, which have fallen to levels deemed alarming in the first quarter of 2024. According to Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, the canal’s annual revenues have fallen by more than 50% since the beginning of the year.