by Lloyd's List
5 August 2025 (Lloyd's List) - THE Suez Canal Authority has confirmed that it has extended a scheme introduced in May to encourage more large containerships to use the Egyptian waterway.
The SCA announced on May 13 that it would apply a 15% discount on transit fees for containerships with a Suez Canal Net Tonnage of 130,000 tonnes or over for a period of 90 days.
SCNT is measured quite differently to the more commonly used international net tonnage with the 130,000 SCNTs discount expected to apply for containerships capable of loading 10,000 teu or more.
The SCA has now confirmed that the 15% discount will be extended for transits of the canal through to December 31 this year.
According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence data, a total of 133 transits of the Suez Canal were undertaken by containerships in July. This was the same number of transits undertaken during June.
The current low numbers of transits compares to monthly averages of 500 passings, before attacks on shipping by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea from November 2023 caused the mass diversion of large boxships serving the Asia-Europe trades via the Cape of Good Hope.
Any increase in boxship transits of the Suez Canal route via the Bab el Mandeb is likely to have been thwarted by the resumption of attacks on shipping by Houthis in early July, following the catastrophic attack on the supramax bulk carrier Magic Seas (IMO: 9736169) after seven months of no ships being targeted.
Only 10 containerships of above 130,000 SCNTs are estimated to have utilised the waterway in both June and July. Based on the SCA’s own fees table, the discount applied to a containership within the size range would provide a reduction in fees benefit of at least $70,000 per transit.
Nine of the vessels were operated by CMA CGM and mostly serve in its Phoenician Express Asia-Mediterranean service via the Bab el Mandeb and benefit from protection from potential Houthi attacks during their Red Sea transits from the French Navy.
The only other containership in excess of 130,000 SCNTs which used the Suez Canal in July was Mediterranean Shipping Co’s MSC Rapallo (IMO: 9484455). This 13,000 teu vessel sailed southbound through the canal to the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah and returned directly to Mediterranean ports via Suez.
While most major container line operators have avoided the Suez Canal since late 2023 several smaller operators have continued to ply the route for services operating from Asia to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, in particular for cargoes bound from China to Russian ports.
Revenue from the Suez Canal plummeted by some 60% to $4bn in 2024, following a historic high of $10.3bn in 2023.
