The Suez Canal Authority confirmed on Tuesday transit tolls would remain steady in 2010, the second straight year fees were not changed for the strategic waterway that is a barometer for international trade. Canal sources had said in December that the tolls for the canal, one of Egypt's main foreign currency earners, would stay on hold due to the fallout from the global financial crisis. The global shipping industry, also hit by tight financing, is gearing up for a second straight year of turmoil in 2010. "To support global trade movement and (help) shipping companies overcome this (financial crisis), we have decided to keep the tolls steady," Chairman Ahmed Fadel told a news conference in Ismailia, on the banks of the canal. He said canal revenues in 2009 were $4.291 billion, some 20 per cent lower than $5.381 billion in 2008. The number of vessels passing through the canal in 2009 was 17,228, also about 20 per cent down on the 2008 figure of 21,415. "The effects of the global financial crisis are still facing the world and imposing difficult challenges. It is slowing recovery as growth in trade... has not reached the level indicating a true revival for the global economy," he said. Revenue from the canal fell 0.5 per cent to $ 390 million in December, the smallest year-on-year fall since November 2008, when faltering global trade began to hit shipping traffic. Hundreds of empty container ships, bulk carrier and others -- so-called "ghost ships" -- were idled in deep sea ports in Asia and Europe during 2009 following the slump in freight as the global crisis caused world trade to plunge. Industry watchers estimated in November as much as 15 percent of the world's shipping fleet could end up out of commission in 2010. Doubts remain about whether the economic revival is sustainable once governments and central banks curb the flow of easy money they have been pumping in to stimulate economies, but some believe trade will hold up thanks to strength in emerging markets.
