Egypt's Suez Canal offers 15 per cent discount for large container ships

Cairo, May 13 The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced on Tuesday a 15 per cent discount on transit fees for large container ships beginning Thursday, aiming to encourage major shipping lines to return to the waterway amid improving security conditions in the Red Sea.

SCA Chairman Osama Rabie said the discount applies to container ships with a net tonnage of 130,000 tonnes or more, regardless of whether they are laden or empty, and will be valid for 90 days. He added that the measure is intended to respond to the needs of shipowners and reassert the Suez Canal's role in global supply chains, according to a statement.

The SCA chief highlighted the authority's ongoing efforts "to keep pace with the rapid changes in the maritime transport industry and to respond flexibly to current challenges in the Red Sea region."

The Suez Canal is vital for Egypt's economy and international trade, Xinhua news agency reported. Around 12 per cent of the world trade volume passes through the strategic waterway. However, due to regional tensions, particularly Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, the canal's revenues have dropped significantly. In mid-April, Rabie reported that Suez Canal revenues fell by 61 per cent in 2024 -- down to 3.991 billion US dollars from 10.250 billion dollars in 2023.

Last month, US President Donald Trump's recent call for free passage of American ships through the Suez Canal had triggered widespread condemnation in Egypt, where legal experts, political leaders, and citizens denounced his remarks as legally groundless and a serious threat to the international order.

Trump posted on Truth Social, a social media platform he majority-owns, that US military and commercial vessels should be allowed to travel through both the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal free of charge.

He claimed both routes would "not exist" without the United States and said he had asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately "take care of, and memorialize, this situation."

"Trump's proposals about international waterways constitute a serious threat to international peace, security, and public order," Ayman Salama, professor of international law at Cairo University, told Xinhua.

Salama highlighted the 1888 Constantinople Convention, which established the fundamental principles governing international dealings with the Suez Canal, preserving the right of all countries to benefit from this global waterway.

He said Trump's "legally baseless" claims, which ignore the sovereignty of coastal states over their territorial waters and straits, could lead to interference in countries' internal affairs, a clear violation of the general principle of non-interference of contemporary international law.

Warning against disruption to international trade and harm to the global economy by US interference, the Egyptian legal expert urged the international community to stand firm in defending international laws and conventions and take serious steps to safeguard the legal bases for navigation.

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