Suez Canal earned $ 3.29 billion dollars

Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority General Ahmed Ali Fadel on Tuesday said that the Suez Canal earned 3.29 billion dollars in the fiscal year 2004-2005 ending June 30, soaring 16 percent on the previous year.

Fadel, at a press conference held at the authority's headquarters in Ismailia on the occasion marking the anniversary of nationalizing the canal denounced, the recent blasts that occurred in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Fadel added that increased trade between Europe and Asia, particularly China, alongside the increase in oil prices, greatly helped the rise in income.

He pointed out that the number of ships transiting the canal this year reached 17,344, a rise of 1174 versus FY 2003-2004.

Splitting the ships into different categories, Fadel said that 58 percent of the canal's traffic was container ships, 22 percent was oil tankers, 9 percent of the ships carried cars, and 6 percent of the ships carried steel.

The Suez Canal Authority is currently working on a project to increase the canal's size, widening the navigational course and increasing its depth over the coming year to 66 and then 72 feet. This will allow much bigger ships to use it.

Praising the canal's achievements over the last 25 years, Fadel said that canal's revenues between 1981 and 30 June 2005 reached $41 billion.