CAIRO: The head of Egypt's Suez Canal Authority Admiral Ahmed Ali Fadel announced in a press release on Tuesday that the Suez Canal has achieved, during the month of October, revenues of $427.3 million compared to $398.9 million in October of 2009, up $28.4 million or to 7.1 percent. It comes as the canal continues to rebound from two years of down figures during the global economic crisis. He also said that the number of vessels crossing the canal in October reached 1,572 ships compared to 1,555 ships in October 2009, up 1.1 percent. The canal also witnessed an increase in net tonnage by 11.7 percent, as the total tonnage during October of this year was 74.6 million tons compared with 66.8 million tons in the month of October 2009, he said. The admiral added that the overall statistics of navigation in the Suez Canal during the first 10 months of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009 “indicate a significant increase in revenues by 11.4 percent, with revenue of $3.9 billion compared to $3.5 billion during the same period in 2009.” The number of vessels increased by 4.1 percent and 14,949 vessels crossed the canal during the first 10 months of this year compared to 14,358 vessels during the same period in 2009. The total net tonnage during this period also increased by 15.2 percent, amounting to a load total of 697.4 million tons in 2010 compared to 605.3 million tons during the same period in 2009, the press statement said. BM
