Egypt is estimated to be losing about $16 million per day in revenue as the Suez Canal Authority has been unable to collect fees from vessels passing through the waterway, according to financial data company Refinitiv.
Ever Given, the 200,000 tonne ship carrying 20,000 containers, was partially refloated on Monday after high winds blew it off course on March 23, blocking a vital waterway for global trade. It is expected to take some time to clear a backlog of more than 400 vessels at either end of the waterway.
“Without transits for the past six days, the loss in revenue for the Suez Canal Authority and Egypt are in excess of $95m,” Ranjith Raja, head of Mena oil and shipping research at Refinitiv, said.
“Despite this morning’s great news on re-floating, the canal is still not passable and so this figure will inevitably grow. If the SCA is considering discounts for vessels affected by the blockage [this] will result in a further loss of revenue.”
A total of 369 ships are currently stranded on either side of the water channel, carrying a deadweight tonnage of 25 million – an 85 per cent increase on the amount that was stuck last Thursday. A further 85 ships are en route to join the jam before Wednesday, Refinitiv said.
Although the authority has managed to transit 100 ships in a single day, there are limitations related to the size of ships transiting and tidal factors on a given day.
“Considering container ships account for the majority of vessels waiting for transit, they are expected to cause a shock to the supply chain, specifically for the manufacturing and automobile sector which usually operate on the 'just-in-time' principle," Mr Raja said.
"This isolated incident is expected to have subsequent cost implications and delays" to consumer goods deliveries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, he added.
Ships can take an alternate route around the Cape of Good Hope, but this can take an extra 10 days and add up to $400,000 in fuel costs alone for a large container vessel or a super tanker, the report said.
The current blockage is unlikely to have a significant impact on oil markets, as only 10 per cent of global oil trade passes through the canal, oil demand remains relatively weak and there are ample reserves both in Asia and the West, Refinitiv's report said.
There are also other ways to move crude, such as the Sumed pipeline (Arab Petroleum Pipelines Company) and the longer transit route around the Cape of Good Hope. The total capacity of the pipeline is 2.8 million bpd but it is operating well below that capacity at 1.33 million bpd.
The pipeline is majority-owned by Egypt's state oil company EGPC, while Saudi Aramco, Mubadala, Kuwait Investment Authority and Qatar Petroleum have smaller shares.
The suspension of traffic through Suez has temporarily raised freight rates across many routes at a time when shipping capacity is already tight. Rates from Rotterdam to Singapore, for example, increased by 25 per cent over a three-day period to $25 per metric tonne by March 26, according to Refinitv data.
A total of 18,597 ships transited the Suez Canal in 2020, or 1,550 ships per month.
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
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Specs
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Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
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The specs
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India cancels school-leaving examinations
Five films to watch
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Pom Poki (1994)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
