The Suez Canal Authority released a statement on Sunday that indicates Panamanian ships were the canal's top clients in January 2015, with a total of 193 vessels and 11,279,000 tons of cargo passing through the canal.
Though Panama tops the client list, the results are still lower than the numbers in January 2014, at 12.3 percent lower in the number of vessels and approximately 12.9 percent less in the tonnage of cargo transported. In January 2014, 220 vessels crossed the canal with 12,949,000 tons of cargo.
The statement also reported that Liberian ships came in second after the Panamanians, with a total of 181 vessels and 9,000,828 tons of cargo, compared to 217 vessels and 12,123,000 tons of cargo in January 2014. This shows a decline of 16.6 percent in the number of ships and approximately 18.9 percent in the tonnage transferred.
The number of Marshall Islands ships crossing the canal increased by 27.9 percent in January 2015, with a tonnage increase of 38.3 percent, compared to January 2014. The 156 vessels belonging to the Marshall Islands carried 9,000,376 tons of cargo through the canal in January 2015, compared to 122 vessels carrying 6,000,778 tons in January 2014.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
