ISMAILIA (Egypt ) -Egypt will maintain current transit fees for the Suez Canal, the longest man-made waterway, until at least the end of the year, the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority said on Monday. “We will make a decision on whether or not to change the tolls at the end of the year,” Ahmed Fadel said in the northeast city of Ismailia on Monday. The number of ships passing through the canal in the fiscal year ended June 30 fell 9.6 per cent to 17,504, while revenue dropped 4.2 per cent to $4.54 billion, he said. Egypt depends on the waterway for foreign currency, along with revenue from tourism and foreign direct investment. Revenue gained in January for the first time since November 2008 as the global economy recovered from recession. “Because of the strong connection between world trade and trade passing through the Suez Canal, the level of shipping activity in the Suez Canal noticeably declined in 2009 from 2008,” Fadel said. “With the improvement in the shipping industry, there has been an amelioration” of traffic. In the first half of 2010, the number of ships using the canal increased 3.3 per cent from a year earlier, while revenue climbed 13 percent, he said. The waterway, a barometer for the health of global trade, suffered through the financial crisis as flows shrunk but has seen a decent rebound this year, particularly in tonnage moved. "There is no ship in the world, if it came to the Suez canal, it won't cross," the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, Ahmed Fadel, told a news conference. "We want to improve crossing for all the big ships." The authority this year allowed ships with draughts up to 66 feet (20 metres), which typically carry 220,000 tonnes of cargo, to enter the canal after it was deepened from 62 feet. Fadel added the authority was considering a further deepening of the canal to 72 feet, without providing details. Revenues for the first half of 2010 reached $2.251 billion, up 12.5 per cent from the first half of 2009, Fadel said. For the fiscal year 2009/10 revenues were $4.542 billion. In January, Fadel said the authority would keep its transit fees steady for 2010 and forecast full-year revenue growth of 2.4 per cent, after a 20 percent decline in 2009. The number of ships passing through increased 3.3 percent in the first half of 2010 to 8,651 versus 8,375 in the same period last year, but total tonnage shipped jumped 20 per cent to 313.4 million tonnes, he said in Ismailia, on the banks of the canal.
