The Chairman and Managing Director of the Suez Canal, Osama Rabie clarified that “there is no truth to the suspension of navigation through the canal as a result of developments in the situation in the Red Sea.”
In a statement on Friday Rabie, said that navigation is going as per normal in both directions of the Suez Canal.
The chairman explained that the SCA on Saturday saw 44 transiting vessels in both directions with a total net tonnage of 2.3 million tons.
The SCA remains keen on opening communication channels directly with shipping companies and shipping lines, he said, jointly coordinating for the best interests of the navigational community and ensuring the sustainability of global supply chains.
Rabie added that the canal’s revenues had decreased by 40 percent since the beginning of the year compared to 2023, due to attacks on ships in the Red Sea, forcing ships to divert their sailing path away from the canal.
During a Thursday phone call with the Egyptian “On” channel, he said that ship transit traffic declined by 30 percent in the period from January 1 to the 11 of the same month on an annual basis.
Traffic fell to 544 ships compared to 777 ships last year, he explained, while tonnage declined by 41 percent in the same period compared to last year.
