Egypt says commercial routes that threaten Suez Canal will not affect revenues

Egypt says commercial routes that threaten Suez Canal will not affect revenues

Wed, 2021-02-03 22:03

CAIRO: The Egyptian government has rejected rumors about the impact of the construction of commercial routes to compete with the Suez Canal on its foreign currency earnings.

The Cabinet's media center said it had contacted the Suez Canal Authority, which stressed that the foreign currency revenues of the Suez Canal have not been affected.

The center confirmed that the reports of the Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline restarting the movement of oil trade through the canal are incorrect, explaining that the percentage of that impact will not exceed 12-16 percent of the volume of northbound oil trade.

The authority said the canal route will remain the shortest and safest way to connect the East and the West as shipping containers through the canal can transport larger quantities of goods at a lower cost than land routes.

Reports and analytical studies prepared by the authority's economic unit indicate several reasons for the lack of an actual impact from the pipeline on the traffic passing through the canal “” especially the export of crude by the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to the Asian market.

The statistics of the oil trade crossing the canal also show that there is no reason to fear the competitiveness of the pipeline if