Suez Canal Authority Hikes Transit Tolls Again for 2023

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has yet again announced that it will raise the transit tolls for vessels crossing the Suez Canal, effective January 2023.

In a statement released over the weekend, the SCA said that transit fees will increase by 15 percent for all types of vessels except for dry bulk ships and cruise ships, which will see an increase of 10 percent

In justifying the fee hike, Osama Rabie, SCA’s Chairman and Managing Director said that the Canal’s flexible pricing strategy is dictated by real-time changes to the global economy.

“Increased transit tolls come in light of SCA’s keeping up-to-date with all the market changes in the maritime transport which monitor the ever-increasing daily charter rates for most types of vessels that reached unprecedented levels, and the forecast for next year shows a continuation in this rise,” said Rabbie.

Rabie said that determining Suez Canal transit toll rests on a number of factors, the most significant of which is the average freight rate for various types of vessels. There has been considerable rise in transit fees for containerships in the past year as their freight rates skyrocketed at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rabie added that the rising energy prices and global inflation rates have hd an impact on the equation of tolls calculation. These factors have increased the operational costs and costs of the navigational services provided by the canal.

The SCA expects its annual revenues to rise by $700 million after the new transit fees are effected next year.

In July, SCA made record earnings of $7 billion for the 2021-2022 fiscal year (July 2021- June 2022), attributable to a series of transit rate hikes during the period.

Since the start of this year, SCA has increased the transit surcharge twice - once in February and again in March - citing growth in global trade.