Suez Canal revenues jump 94% in October

Suez Canal revenues surged 94% year on year in October, as shipping traffic continued to recover from the Red Sea crisis. Suez Canal Authority chief Osama Rabie said the waterway recorded its highest monthly traffic levels since the crisis began, while a source at French shipping company CMA CGM called for lower transit fees and additional incentives to encourage shipping lines to return fully.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting with the Egyptian Businessmen’s Association, Rabie said the canal’s performance had improved significantly despite ongoing geopolitical tensions in the region.

In October, the canal recorded its highest monthly traffic levels since the Red Sea crisis began, with 1,490 vessels transiting the canal and total net tonnage reaching 88 million tons. Vessel traffic rose 32% year on year, while net tonnage increased 86%.

Revenues reached $724 million in October, up from $373 million in the same month of 2025, Rabie said. He expected the positive trend to continue as more international shipping lines resume transiting the canal.

Egypt is seeking to restore traffic through the Suez Canal following recent developments in the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait, which have renewed concerns over maritime security in the Red Sea amid escalating tensions between Ansar Allah (the Houthis) and Saudi Arabia and the war between the US and Iran.

A source at French shipping company CMA CGM told Al Manassa, requesting anonymity, that the company continues to rely on the Suez Canal for 60% to 70% of its services. The source expected the company to resume using the canal for all its services next year, provided security conditions continue to improve.

The source said the canal has an opportunity to accelerate the return of international shipping lines by reviewing transit fees and offering additional incentives and concessions during the current period.

Steep increases in oil prices are adding to the financial pressure on maritime transport companies, which are already facing persistently high insurance costs for vessels and voyages, the source added.

Global energy markets have seen a wave of price increases, with prices rising further since September as a result of the fallout from the US-Iran war.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Tarek, commercial director of the ONE shipping alliance, expected shipping lines to fully resume transiting the Suez Canal next year, provided an agreement is reached to end the US-Iran war and security conditions in the region stabilize.

He told Al Manassa that several shipping lines had announced the resumption of some services through the canal in recent weeks and were returning to it as a main route for transporting goods. These moves, he said, point to a gradual normalization of shipping traffic.

In September, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd announced plans to resume additional voyages through the canal, amid signs of relative improvement in regional conditions.

The ONE alliance’s commercial director said the Suez Canal Authority has an opportunity to attract more international shipping lines, particularly those without dedicated terminals or berths at ports. He said the authority could do so by offering incentives and concessions to encourage these companies to use local ports for berthing and cargo handling, as well as regional hubs for cargo handling, transshipment and transit operations.

He expected the ONE alliance to resume using the Suez Canal as a main shipping route within the coming days or early December, depending on its assessment of security conditions in the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait.

He stressed that geopolitical developments and security conditions in the region will remain the decisive factors in determining the pace of shipping lines’ return to the Suez Canal and the extent to which the waterway can recover its central role in global trade.

Following the start of Israel’s assault on Gaza in October 2023, Yemen’s Ansar Allah joined the resistance and launched numerous attacks on ships transiting the Red Sea. The attacks prompted many shipping companies to reroute their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope.

The Joint War Committee, which represents a group of international insurance companies, also classified the area leading to the Suez Canal as a high-risk zone, driving up insurance costs for vessels transiting the waterway.

These risks contributed to a roughly 50% decline in canal traffic since 2024, dealing a blow to Egypt’s revenues from the waterway, one of the country’s most important sources of foreign currency.