The further escalation of the crisis in the Middle East does not leave portend an imminent increase in traffic intensity in the Suez Canal which has drastically reduced from January following the attacks that the Houthi rebels are leading from the end of 2023 against ships in transit in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

A further serious unknown on the geopolitical future of the region, and therefore on the possibility that maritime traffic in the Egyptian canal returns to normal, it has been added with the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria this weekend after Russia abandoned its destiny a nation that for decades had been the political and above all military of Russian interests in the Middle East, and has made with laughable justifications, such as realizing that the Alawites "they do not represent the core of the Syrian nation", as "La Pravda" discovered on Saturday, which supported Moscow's interest in supporting only strong governments, which according to The newspapers are, for example, the current Afghan government and the of North Korea, while Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has taken refuge in Moscow, "has proved weak because it relied on foreign aid (Iran and Russia), he spread corruption and destroyed the army." Or how the equally disconcerting statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Russian newspaper, Sergei Lavrov, collected among others on Saturday by the newspaper "Kommersant", according to which Russian ships had left the historic Russian naval base in recent days in Tartus because "in the Mediterranean Sea they are taking place naval exercises".

Waiting to see how much the Syrian crisis will weigh on maritime traffic in the region, meanwhile also last year October the number of ships that have passed through the Suez Canal is result less than half of that of October 2023. The transits, in fact, were only 1,136, with a drop of overall of -51.6%. Tanker crossings are 407 (-42.3%) and those of other types of ships 729 (-55.6%). The total SCNT tonnage of ships transited the canal last year October amounted to 40.4 million tonnes (-70.8%) and ship traffic generated revenue for the state coffers amounting to 15.6 billion Egyptian pounds ($312 million), with a reduction of -42.7% compared to October last year.

In the first ten months of 2024, maritime traffic in the canal 11,207 ships, with a decrease of -49.1% on the previous year, corresponding period last year, of which 4,189 tankers (-40.9%) and 7,018 ships of other types (-53.0%). Tonnage SCNT of ships transited stood at 447.5 globally million tonnes (-66.0%) and the value of transit rights paid by ships amounted to approximately 135.3 billion Egyptian pounds (-48.8%).