Suez Canal offers discount for container ships for 90 days

Starting May 15, the Suez Canal will offer a 15% discount on transit fees for container ships with a capacity of approximately 13.5 thousand TEU and above for the next 90 days. In this way, its administration seeks to encourage ships to transit, Splash247 reports.

The Suez Canal Authority said that the offer was made in response to requests from container owners and operators, as well as in light of recent positive changes in the security situation in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Revenues from transit through the Suez Canal have declined significantly over the past year. Most of the world’s merchant fleet has avoided the area because of attacks by Yemeni Houthis.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump said that after more than 17 months, the Red Sea shipping crisis is nearing an end.

However, most of the companies interviewed during the presentation of their recent quarterly reports believe that it is still too early to resume transit through the Red Sea.

In particular, Maersk CEO Vincent Klerk said that it would be “irresponsible” to resume Red Sea transit based on an unclear ceasefire agreement. He warned that the region remains too unstable for a safe return.

Lars Jensen, head of the consulting company Vespucci Maritime, told Splash that he doubted that a 15 percent discount would have a significant impact on decisions to transit the Red Sea under current circumstances, which would be based on risk assessment.

According to Lloyd’s List, Suez Canal Authority officials have recently held a series of high-level industry meetings as part of a campaign to convince shipping to return to the canal in light of improved safety assessments.

At the same time, major owners and operators that had rerouted to avoid the Red Sea have recently begun to return, albeit with a series of preliminary test voyages. However, the discount is unlikely to be an incentive sufficient to speed up such decisions.

Earlier this year, Osama Rabi, the head of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), said that the Suez Canal was ready to return to full operation as global trade stabilized. The number of vessels that passed through the canal last year decreased to 13.2 thousand from 26.4 thousand in 2023, and daily traffic fell from 75-80 to 32-35.