$496 million rise in Suez Canal

An official in Suez Canal authority announced that the canal revenues increased by $ 496 million in the first nine months of this year. Revenues in the period from January 1 2012 to the end of September 2012 reached over 4 billion in comparison to over 3 billion in the same period last year. The total number of ships crossed in the same period amounted to 12996 ships with with almost 700 billion tons of cargo, which shows and 1.4 percent increase in the number of ships and 1.4 percent increase in cargo. While total oil tankers amounted to 2760 tanker with 105 million tons of cargo, which made up an increase of 3.8 percent in tank numbers, and 25.1 percent in cargo. The official added that "the dry bulk vessels crossing the canal in the same period has achieved a remarkable increase of 26.3 percent and 30.9 percent in cargo, as the number of ships crossed reached 2227 ships that carried 74 million tons of cargo, while the total number of general cargo ships was 1074 ships with over 11 million tons of cargo. This shows a 4.6 percent increase in the number of ships crossed and 1.8 percent in cargo. Since March 2012, the Suez Canal authority began applying a 3 percent transit fee on all types of ships. The Suez Canal is recently renovating its waiting stations, and constructing new emergency garages.