Egypt’s Suez Canal recorded its highest revenue to date in April, raking in $629 million in ship transit fees, the authority managing the waterway reported on Sunday.
The unprecedented income came as the Suez Canal in March increased transit fees for ships passing through the waterway, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
Adm. Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority, said in a statement that 1,929 vessels sailed through the Canal in April, compared to 1,814 in the same month last year.
He said the revenues rose by 13.9 percent compared to April last year when the crucial waterway received $553.6 million.
About 10 percent of global trade, including 7 percent of the world’s oil, flows through the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean and Red seas.
The canal, which first opened in 1869, is a major source of foreign currency to Egypt.
The annual revenues of the canal reached $6.3 billion in 2021, the highest in its history. The Canal authority said 20,649 vessels passed through the waterway last year, a 10 percent increase compared to 18,830 vessels in 2020.
Meanwhile, the shipping industry is still struggling to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic, and Russia’s war on Ukraine has only increased global economic concerns.
