CAIRO: Suez Canal revenues declined dramatically during the past 11 months of this year, Egypt's Suez Canal Authority (SCA) reported. The SCA said that revenues declined by $1.057 billion as compared to the previous year as a result of transport companies using alternative routes due to the significant Somali piracy fears. An official from the SCA told local newspapers that the revenues of the Suez Canal during the period from January until the end of November reached 4.318 billion compared to 5.375 billion dollars during the same period last year. He pointed out that the total number of vessels crossing the canal during the same period amounted to 15,774 vessels compared to 19,855 vessels during the same period the previous year , a decline of 4,081 ships. Despite the downturn this year, the SCA administration announced that its revenues have already started to improve again, despite the continuing drop, but November revenues had decreased significantly by 12.8 percent compared to November 2008. The official attributed the decline to lower demand of owners of ships to operate it the canal during the coming period “that coincides with the Christmas holidays and celebrations.” November revenues reached 365 million dollars compared to 419 million dollars during the same month of last year, which results in a decline of 54 million dollars. “We always see November as a down month, and with this year's problems in terms of global financial crisis and piracy, it is not surprising,” the official said. Economists have said that as international action is taken against the pirates and the global crisis begins to subside, the canal should return to its normal position as the leading waterway that connects Asia and Europe. The SCA said in January this year that it would keep transit fees unchanged in 2009, despite predicting the decline in the movement of ships due to global financial crisis. The canal, during 2008, earned its highest revenues in its history, some 5.382 billion dollars, an increase of 71.6 percent compared to 2007, while the total number of vessels crossing the canal reached 21,420 ships, an increase of 5.1 percent. According to the SCA, the total cargo passing through it reached 910 million tons, an increase of 7.3 percent. BM
