Egypt’s Suez Canal has recorded a 23.4% decline in income due to disruptions in Red Sea trade over the last year, including attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Israeli-linked vessels.
The canal reported “during the financial year 2023/24 the passage of 20,148 ships, generating revenues of $7.2 billion, compared with 25,911 ships during the financial year 2022/23, with revenues of $9.4 billion,” the Suez Canal Authority said in a statement on Thursday.
Egypt’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30 of the following year. Since November, the Houthis (Ansar Allah) have carried out multiple attacks on ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
The Iran-aligned group claims the strikes are in support of Palestinians in Gaza. The attacks have forced many large maritime companies to cease passage through the Red Sea, which normally transports roughly 10% of world trade, and detour their ships thousands of kilometers around Africa.
Oussama Rabie, head of the state agency that administers the canal, ascribed the reduction to “the severe impact of the Red Sea crisis on canal traffic because security problems encourage many ship owners and operators to take alternative routes”.
According to the statement, the use of these alternate routes has “resulted in an increase in travel times and costs”.
