Suez Canal scores highest monthly profits in two years

August recorded the Suez Canal’s largest monthly profits since the start of the global financial crisis in November 2008, according to a Suez Canal Authority statement disseminated Wednesday.

Authority head Ahmed Fadel said in the statement August returns reached US$436 million, 17.2 per cent up from August 2009's US$371.9 million.

Fadel said the figures represent a remarkable boom in the canal’s navigation activities, with 1659 ships and 78.3 million tons of cargo passing through its waters in August, compared to 1554 ships with 71.3 million tons in July.

Revenues for the first eight months of this year total US$3092.7 million, opposed to US$2754.5 revenue totals for the same period in 2009, indicating a 12.2 percent increase. 

The canal's profits witnessed a drop during the 2008-2009 period—analysts attribute the decrease in traffic and profit to the global economic crisis and the emergence of Somalia piracy in the Gulf of Eden.

The Suez is one of Egypt's most important sources of national revenue, along with tourism, oil, and expatriate remittances.