Conflict Within the Middle East.Decline in revenue from Suez
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Hassan Rahim
- . April 17, 2025
- . Update: April 17, 2025 4:40 pm
The Suez Canal in Egypt became one of the busiest trade routes in the world, and that again fell into almost two-thirds in 2024. According to officials, this tremendous fall was attributed to the current conflicts and wars in the Middle East that influenced the number of vessels using the canal.
The record for the Suez Canal was $10.25 billion in 2023. However, there has been a significant drop in that figure, according to the Suez Canal Authority, for the year 2024: it dropped to a mere $3.99 billion. The reason? Very few ships use this route because of the threats in the Red Sea.
Since late 2023, Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been targeting ships linked with Israel due to protests regarding the Gaza war. More than a hundred cargo ships were hit by missile and drone strikes and sunk, while four sailors died in the period from November to January.
All these attacks together add up to a mere count of 13213 ships that passed through the Suez Canal in the year 2024, almost half as many as the previous year. This becomes a matter of concern, even for international trade, as it acts as a major link between Asia and Europe for Egyptian gas.
However, Osama Rabie, head of the canal authority, referred to the continuance of total maritime services for Egypt under such circumstances. Nevertheless, the International Monetary Fund has already confirmed a 50% drop in the trade traversing the Suez Canal during the initial two months of 2024.
Opened in 1869, the canal is still one of the routes through which oil, gas, and cargo ships ply today. It was enlarged in 2015, under President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, to be able to accommodate even larger ships and a greater volume of traffic. Still, the regional instability has made shipping companies think twice about taking this route for the time being.
