A total of 321 ships transited through the Suez Canal from 11 to 17 December with a total load of 19.098m tonnes, according to the weekly Suez Canal traffic data released Wednesday. This marked a 2.5% increase in the number of ships compared to the previous week, during which 313 vessels transited the canal carrying total load of 17.649m tonnes. An average of 46 ships per day transit the canal throughout the past week with an average load of 2.7m tonnes per day compared to an average of 45 ships during the previous week with an average load of 2.8m tonnes. The average per ship load was 59,500 tonnes compared to 55,811 tonnes during the previous week. In July 2015, prior to the inauguration of the New Suez Canal, the average daily number of transiting vessels totalled 47 with an average load of 2.758m tonnes per day. Last week, two major Danish ships, the Majestic Maersk and Matz Maersek, transited through the canal carrying 200,360 tonnes each. Cargo load is the main measure of shipping traffic in the Suez Canal, as fees for the transit are calculated based on the load. A total of 177 ships transited through the canal heading south, with a daily average of 25 ships and a total load of 9.688m tonnes of cargo, a daily average of 1.38m tonnes. The number of ships that passed through the new channel coming from the east through the southern entrance was 144 ships, a daily average of 21 vessels, with a total load of 9.4m tonnes, a daily average of 1.344m tonnes. The Suez Canal data revealed that revenues decline to $408.4m in November compared to $449.2m in October, marking the lowest revenue since February when revenues recorded $382m. The number of vessels transiting the canal also dropped to 1,401 from 1,500 in October. The following table shows traffic through the Suez Canal between 11 and 17 December, 2015: Total loads North South Total number of Ships Day Number of Ships Loads Number of Ships Loads 1,637,243 19 996,140 11 641,103 30 Friday 3,191,114 32 1,883,124 21 1,307,990 53 Saturday 2,932,139 22 1,515,543 20 1,416,596 42 Sunday 2,248,323 29 1,185,343 16 1,062,980 45 Monday 2,949,238 26 1,541,024 19 1,408,214 45 Tuesday 2,707,810 28 1,147,020 27 1,560,790 55 Wednesday 3,432,528 21 1,420,695 30 2,011,833 51 Thursday 19,098,395 177 9,688,889 144 9,409,506 321 Total 2,728,342 25.28571 1,384,127 20.57143 1,344,215 45.85714 Average
