Maersk contemplates 3 percent discount for advance payment of Suez Canal tolls
According to a Reuters report, Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipping line, said it was considering proposals from the Suez Canal Authority.
A Maersk spokesman said, “They have proposed a new payment method and presented it to us, and we are looking at it now”.
The Suez Canal is considered as one of the main sources of foreign currency for a country that has struggled to overcome a crippling dollar shortage since an uprising in 2011 caused an exodus of foreign investors and tourists.
The concerned country, Egypt aims to double its revenue from the canal by 2023 with the construction of an extension to the waterway that was completed this year.
Canal authority chairman Mohab Mamish told the Wall Street Journal it was now looking to levy charges three or five years in advance in exchange for a three per cent discount.
Traffic through the waterway linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea has been hit by fallout from the political instability as well as a slowdown in global trade.
That slowdown, together with a glut of vessels, has left the container shipping industry in a lurch with worst ever market conditions, battering earnings and forcing one major player to go out of business affecting cargo operations worldwide.
Also read our earlier Mfame article: Maersk Says Suez Canal Authority Plans to Propose a New Toll System
Did you subscribe for our daily newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe!
Reference: Reuters, Transport weekly
