Egypt's Suez Canal Authority recently issued a statement stating that from mid-January next year, transit fees for ships of many types passing through Egypt's Suez Canal will increase by 5% to 15%. The statement said that starting from January 15 next year, tolls for crude oil carriers, product oil carriers, liquefied petroleum gas carriers, liquefied natural gas carriers, chemical carriers and other liquid bulk carriers, container ships, vehicle carriers, cruise ships, and special floating facilities will increase by 15%.
In addition, tolls for dry bulk carriers, general cargo ships, ro-ro ships and other vessels will be increased by 5%.
However, ships sailing from ports in northwest Europe to destinations in the Far East will not be affected by the new round of price increases.
The Suez Canal is one of the world's busiest waterways and the shortest waterway between Europe and Asia. About 12% of the world's trade passes through this canal. Canal revenue is also the main source of Egypt's national fiscal revenue and foreign exchange reserves.
According to data released by Egypt's Suez Canal Authority earlier this year, Suez Canal revenue reached US$9.4 billion in fiscal year 2022, an increase of 34.7% from the previous year. In fiscal year 2022, a total of 26,000 ships passed through the Suez Canal, an annual growth rate of 17.6%.
Osama Rabie, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, said revenue from the Suez Canal is expected to reach $10.3 billion by the end of 2023.
In this regard, Zerohedge, a well-known financial blog website, wrote that as Egypt announced that it will increase the transit fees for various types of ships passing through the Suez Canal, this latest adjustment may undoubtedly further exacerbate people's concerns about the outlook for global inflation.
The article pointed out that although this move will not have a huge impact on global trade flows, the increase in transit fees for carriers sailing through the canal is still likely to be eventually passed on to consumers, thus exacerbating inflation everywhere. Currently, as geopolitical tensions push energy prices higher again, inflation data in many major economies around the world are showing signs of rising again.