Admiral Ossama Rabiee, the Chairman and Managing Director of the Suez Canal Authority, stated that the navigation through the Suez Canal flows normally as usual. Suez Canal is watching the ongoing tensions in the Red Sea closely and examining their effect on the navigation traffic through the Canal in the light of announcing some shipping lines are shifting their voyages to the Cape of Good Hope route, temporarily, pointing to the shift of 55 vessels to transit through the Cape of Good Hope route during the period from November 19th till present, which is a significantly low number when compared to 2128 vessels transited the Canal in same period.
Adm. Rabiee highlighted that 77 vessels transited the Canal, with a total net tonnage amounting to 4 million tons, among them a number of vessels affiliated to those shipping lines which announced shifting their voyages from the Suez Canal temporarily. The vessels MAERSK SAIGON, CMA CGM CHRISTOPHE COLOMB, and MSC FABIENNE transited among the north-bound convoy as these vessels were present in the Red Sea region before the announcement made by these shipping lines on shifting their journies to the Cape of Good Hope route.
H.E. stressed that the Suez Canal will remain the fastest and shortest route as the saved time for the vessels transiting the Canal between Asia and Europe would reach from 9 days to 2 weeks according to the port of origin and port of destination.
Source: Suez Canal Authority
