O presidente do Canal de Suez contesta o relatório da SeIntell que defende que os navios comerciais estão a trocar a rota do Canal do Suez pela passagem do Cabo da Boa Esperança. 
Segundo o relatório os navios que evitam este local poupam, em média, 211 mil euros por viagem, uma vez que não pagam a taxa respectiva, embora isso lhes represente mais dias de viagem.

The President of the Suez Canal Authority (ACS), Admiral Mohab Mamish disputes the report from SeaIntell.

According to SeLintell - a Danish research center dedicated to maritime traffic analysis, ships that avoid this location in the framework of Asia-East Coast of the United States (UESC) and Asia-Northern Europe services save on average 211 thousand euros per trip, since they do not pay the respective fee, even if it means more travel days.

The President of the Channel denies allegations that commercial ships are avoiding the route of the Suez Canal by passing the Cape of Good Hope, news that have been featured in various media outlets.

The World Maritime News newspaper adds that in in its most recent analysis, SeaIntell states that since the end of October 2015, 115 ships from the Asia-UESC and Asia-Northern Europe routes stated that more return trips would prefer the passage of Cape of Good Hope to the passage of the Suez Canal.

Mohab Mamish argues that the statistics shown are not more 115 since October 2015, which, according to the President, "represents 0.6% of the ships that crossed the Channel in 2015, which is a very small percentage that does not indicates a general trend for traffic in the Channel. "

The official also considers that the drop in oil prices did not affect the revenues of the Suez Canal, given that in February of this year there was an increase of revenues, number of vessels in transit and net tonnage.

Revenues would have increased 5.1% in February this year compared to the same period last year, according to ACS, quoted by the newspaper. In February 2015, the number of ships in transit through the Canal would have risen 6.6%, and net tonnage would have risen 4.6%, according to the same source.

Confronted with these data, Mohab Mamish shows other data. According to him, traffic and net tonnage of goods that crossed the Suez Canal in 2015 would have grown by 2% and 3.7% respectively, compared to 2014. And according to the ACS, quoted by the newspaper, the net tonnage of ships that went from UESC to the Middle East through the Suez Canal increased from 5 million in 2005 to 60 million in 2015, "which is 12 fold in 10 years, and due to the channel's ability to accommodate the largest ships in the world in competitive terms compared to alternative routes, "the President of the Canal says.

Source: Jornal da Economia do Mar
Photo Source: Jornal da Economia do Mar