CAIRO, 4 February, 2021 (TON): Rumors about the impact of commercial routes’ construction compete with Suez Canal got rejected by the Egyptian government.

The Suez Canal Authority said the route will remain the shortest and safest way to connect the East and the West as the shipping containers can transport larger quantities of goods at a lower cost than land routes.

The authority said revenue generated during 2020 amounted to $5.61bn and 18,829 ships passed through the canal.

The Cabinet’s media center said it had contacted the Suez Canal Authority, which stressed that the foreign currency revenues of the Suez Canal have not been affected.

It confirmed that the reports are incorrect about the Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline restarting the movement of oil trade through the canal, that the impact percentage will not exceed 12-16 percent of the volume of northbound oil trade.

There is no reason to fear the competitiveness of the pipeline if it is operating the statistics of the oil trade crossing the canal showed.

It is expected that there would be an increase n the costs and time of transportation using the pipeline instead of the Suez Canal, especially since that trade is mostly directed to northwest Europe and will need to be shipped on tankers in the Mediterranean, in addition to an increase in the time used for unloading and shipping.