Suez Canal revenue fell by 47% in January due to Houthi attacks

The Suez Canal’s revenue in January amounted to $428 million, said the head of the canal’s management, Osama Rabia. A year earlier, this figure was $804 million. Thus, the channel’s revenue from cargo transportation decreased by 46.8%, reports Bloomberg.

The decline in cargo traffic through the Suez Canal is due to constant attacks by the Yemeni Houthis on merchant ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis announced in mid-November last year that they would strike Israeli targets, including the country’s commercial ships. And on December 9, a Houthi spokesman said that traffic would also impede the passage of ships heading to Israel, regardless of which country they belong to.

At the end of 2023, the volume of cargo traffic through the Suez Canal decreased by 28%. In mid-January Mr. Rabia reportedthat in the first 11 days of the year, revenues from the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas, fell by 40% year-on-year. He clarified that during the mentioned period, transit traffic through the canal decreased by 30%, and the number of ships passing through it decreased to 544.

Last week the UN appreciated a 45% drop in cargo transportation through the Suez Canal during two months of Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The number of ships passing through the Suez Canal in two months, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), decreased by 39%.

Kirill Sarkhanyants