2023 was a record year for the Suez Canal with regard to maritime traffic transiting the waterway Egyptian, a new historical peak that has been generated mainly in the first half of the year when it is The trend of strong growth in transits continued following the short Reduction period coincided with peak diffusion of the Covid-19 pandemic. This trend has since been in the second half of the year, despite the fact that transits continued to set new records and came to a halt in December 2023 when - after 32 consecutive months of increase - traffic recorded a month-to-month decline due to the Decisions taken by an increasing number of shipping companies to divert their ships to the route that circumnavigates the African coast via the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the southern Red Sea region where Yemeni Houthi rebels They had begun to carry out attacks against ships in transit in the area that are still ongoing.

For the whole of 2023, the Suez Canal transited the Record number of 26,434 vessels, an increase of +10.8% on the year historical peak, which was such both relatively to the 8,435 tankers transited (+27.7%) and to the 17,999 other type (+4.4%) passed through the channel. A new record has also been marked by the net tonnage of ships transited last year, which was almost 1.6 billion Suez Canal Net Tonnage (+11.2%).

In the fourth quarter of 2023 alone, maritime traffic 6,750 vessels, representing the A new record for this time of year and the second highest highest quarterly report ever, as well as a increase of +3.9% over the same period of 2022. Transits tankers alone were 2,052 (+8.6%), while 4,698 other types passed through the canal (+2,0%). The total SCNT tonnage transited was over 3.9 billion tons (+2.9%).

In the meantime, the meetings between the Authority's managers continue of the Suez Canal and the managers of the main global shipping, in particular those in the containers, in order to evaluate initiatives that can reduce the the impact of the crisis in the Red Sea on the Egyptian channel. Are meetings that the Suez Canal Authority dutifully conducts with the customers, but which can only turn out to be without as long as the risk of ship transits in the The Red Sea remains elevated. So also yesterday the administrator delegate of the MSC shipping group has confirmed the availability of to return their ships to the route that passes through the Egyptian canal as soon as the security situation is resolved. Normalized.