Suez Canal transit tolls will increase from January 2023, announced Suez Canal Authority on Saturday, 17th September.
Tolls for all types of vessels will rise by 15% except for dry bulk ships and cruise ships for whom the price of transmitting will rise by 10 per cent.
According to the announcement, the Canal’s flexible pricing strategy is dictated by real-time changes in the global economy.
“Increased transit tolls come in light of SCA’s keeping up-to-date with all the market changes in the maritime transport which monitor the ever-increasing daily charter rates for most types of vessels that reached unprecedented levels, and the forecast for next year shows a continuation in this rise,” said Osama Rabie, SCA’s Chairman and Managing Director.
Rabie added that determining the Suez Canal transit toll is based on a number of factors, the most significant of which is the average freight rate for various types of vessels. There has been considerable rise in transit fees for containerships in the past year as their freight rates skyrocketed at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Rabiee pointed out to the impact the increased energy prices have on the equation of tolls calculation where the continued increase in crude oil prices over $90 per barrel, and the increase in the average LNG prices above $30 per million thermal units, have both led to a rise in the average prices of ships bunker and consequently an increase in the savings ships achieve by transiting through the Suez Canal compared to other alternative routes.
These factors have increased the operational costs and costs of the navigational services provided by the canal, the announcement states.
The SCA expects its annual revenues to rise by $700 million after the new transit fees are affected next year.
According to sea shipping news portal Maritime Executive, since the start of this year, SCA has increased the transit surcharge twice – once in February and again in March – citing growth in global trade.