Cairo
The Suez Canal Authority announced today (Tuesday) a 15% reduction in the fees of container ships, which cross the canal as of May 15, for a period of three months.
The head of the authority, Osama Rabie, said in a statement that “the Suez Canal issued incentives and reductions of 15% of the transit fees for container ships with a net tonnage of 130,000 tons or more (loaded or empty) starting from Thursday, May 15, 2025, and for a period of 90 days.”
Rabie added that this decision comes “in meeting the requirements of many customers from the owners and operators of container ships, and in an effort to encourage major shipping lines to return to cross from the Suez Canal again, in light of the favourable conditions and the stability and calm of the security situation in the Red Sea region.”
He stressed the keenness of the Suez Canal Authority to enhance its supporting role for global supply chains and serving the global trade movement between East and West, by working to consolidate joint ties and relations with customers and success partners in the international shipping community.
He pointed to the Authority’s constant endeavour to keep pace with the rapid changes in the maritime transport industry, and to deal flexibly with the current challenges in the Red Sea region optimally.
He explained that the Suez Canal adopts an ambitious strategy to develop and modernise the maritime and logistics services system provided to its customers, and seeks to open up to partnerships with major international companies in various maritime fields.
The expert in maritime transport, Eng. Wael Qadoura, considered that providing reductions on transit fees is a step to attract ships to cross from the Suez Canal instead of the Cape of Good Hope Road, which it resorted to after tensions in the Red Sea region, and led to a decline in the revenues of the Egyptian Canal.
A former member of the board of directors of the Suez Canal Authority, added that the agreement of the United States of America and the Houthi group in Yemen on a ceasefire encourages ships to return to cross the Suez Canal.
Oman announced on Tuesday that it had made contacts with the United States of America and the relevant authorities in Sana’a, Yemen, with the aim of “de-escalation”, noting that the efforts resulted in an agreement on a ceasefire between the two sides.
U.S. forces have launched large-scale attacks since mid-March in Houthi-held areas of Yemen, who have more than once targeted U.S. war cuts in the Red Sea and targets in Israel to show “solidarity” with the Palestinians in Gaza.
Qadoura predicted a gradual increase in Suez Canal revenues as of the fourth quarter of 2025, to reach the pre-war level in mid-2026.
Suez Canal revenues declined during 2024 to $3.991 billion, compared to $10.250 billion in 2023, after the number of transit ships halved against the back of “tensions” in the Red Sea.
