Suez Canal Authority expects 2016 revenue to grow to $5.7bn

Reuters

Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority expects revenue to increase to $5.7 billion this year after the waterway was widened, company executive Tamer Hammad said at a maritime conference in Dubai.
The figure would be an improvement on the $5.175 billion achieved in 2015 and would continue an increase in revenues seen this year despite slowing global trade and initially sluggish demand following the expansion. Higher revenues will be welcome at a time when speculation is rife that Egypt will be forced to devalue its currency.
A currency shortage makes it hard for companies to import and for foreign investors to repatriate profits, with the Egyptian pound’s value on the black market tumbling in recent days. The canal is one of Egypt’s main sources of income. Its $8 billion expansion, inaugurated by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in August 2015, was completed to try to revive the economy by doubling daily traffic and increasing annual revenue to more than $13 billion by 2023.
To further draw in foreign currency to ease present shortages, the canal authority has been considering pre-paid systems for fees that would attract large sums of cash. The authority’s chairman, Mohab Mameesh, told reporters at the event that it had proposed offering ships using the canal a 5 percent discount on fees if they paid five years in advance.
The authority is also offering a 3 percent discount on fees paid three years in advance and is in negotiations with shipping lines Maersk, MSC and CMA about the changes, Mameesh said. Shipping lines have responded to the proposed fee discount with “good feedback”, according to Mameesh, adding the authority is hopeful of introducing the new payment system in 2017.