ISMAILIYA, Egypt, May 1 — Egypt’s Suez Canal recorded its highest monthly revenue to date in April, reaping US$629 million (RM2.7 billion) in ship transit fees, the authority managing the waterway said today, as traffic rebounded from the impact of the pandemic.

The monthly revenue in April was 13.6 per cent higher than a year ago, canal authority chairman Osama Rabie said in a statement.

The total number of ships that passed through the 193km waterway that links the Red and the Mediterranean seas increased by 6.3 per cent from a year ago to 1,929 vessels.

They carried cargoes weighing in total 114.5 million tonnes, the highest monthly net cumulative payload to transit the waterway, he said.

The number of oil tankers, liquefied natural gas tankers and container carriers increased respectively by 25.8 per cent, 12 per cent and 9 per cent in April versus a year ago, he added.

In addition to the impact of the pandemic, last year’s flows were disrupted after a container ship ran aground in the canal in late March. — Reuters