Suez Canal bustles in 2021

Despite supply chain issues, soaring shipping costs and trade confrontations between nations, the administrators of the Suez Canal in Egypt say the canal reached yielded record annual revenue of $6.3 billion in 2021.

According to AP News,  Admiral Ossama Rabei, head of the Suez Canal Authority, said revenue rose by 12.8 percent, compared with 2020. Rabei also said 20,649 vessels journeyed through the Suez in 2021, an increase of 10 percent compared with the 18,830 vessels that transited the canal in 2020.

The Suez Canal reached its record last year despite being out of commission for six days in March when a sizable container ship, the Ever Given, ran aground, completely blocking a single-lane section of the waterway.

In the Western Hemisphere, the operators of the Panama Canal announced a record number of annual transits in 2021, having surpassed the prior record by October of last year.

“We look forward to accommodating even more transits for our customers in the New Year, with containership, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas transits already expected to drive growth in 2022,” lya Espino de Marotta, deputy administrator of the Panama Canal, told the Greece-based Hellenic Shipping News in late December 2021.

Traders of secondary commodities encountered numerous problems in 2021 tied to both availability of containers and bookings and the cost of shipping.

However, cross-border demand for scrap commodities remains vibrant, with the Indian subcontinent in particular being a growing destination that can be served by both major canals.