Friday March 29th, 2024
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Trade Ships Now Have to Wire Suez Canal Fees Before Arriving to Egypt

The payments can only be made from the ships' home countries.

Staff Writer

According the president of Suez Canal - which an average of 10% of the world's trade ships pass through - it will be mandatory for said ships to wire the fees of passing through the Suez Canal in full prior to reaching Egypt, reports Al Mal News.

The current system allows passing ships to pay the fee to Egypt's Central Bank as they pass through the canal, however the authority's president, Mohab Memish, announced that the new measure aims at assisting Egypt's economy to obtain more foreign currency.

Previously, passing ships would make payments through Central Bank offices at Red Sea ports, a policy which has in times allowed ships to buy foreign currency from Egypt -something Memish hopes would no longer happen when new policy is fully enacted.

In addition to pre-paying, ships will also be required to have wired the money from their home countries - the ones whose flags are on the ships - but not from another ports or markets, according to Al Mal News.

The news come two years after Egypt inaugurated the Suez Canal's new side channel, promoted by state media as The New Canal, in hopes it would help eleviate pressure on Egypt's economy. However, due to its reliance on the global trade size - which hasn't increased in recent years - and threats from competing trade routes, the Suez Canal is yet to make up for the bill of the costly expansion.