Andre Klynsmith

Economy and Markets

The Canal Fills Up Again: Suez Revenue Jumps 42% as Ships Run From Hormuz

Suez Canal revenue rose 42% in July against the same month a year earlier, and 1,340 vessels transited the waterway — 27% more than in July 2025 and up from 1,208 in June. The recovery is being driven by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz rather than by any easing in the Red Sea, and that distinction matters a great deal to anyone pricing an Asia–Southern Africa or Europe–Southern Africa leg right now.

Economy and Markets

12 September 2026 • 4 min read

More ships are using the Suez Canal, and more ships are still going round the Cape. Both are true at the same time, because the traffic growing fastest at Suez is entering from the north and turning back before it reaches the Bab el-Mandeb.

The numbers behind the recovery

Canal income reached US$505 million in July, according to Egyptian state statistics agency CAPMAS — the highest monthly figure since December 2023, before Houthi attacks on shipping collapsed transit volumes in early 2024. Oil tankers accounted for 526 of July's 1,340 vessels, against 485 the month before, and it is that tanker component doing most of the work.

Suez Canal Authority chairman Osama Rabie told a local television programme that full-year revenue is now expected to reach between US$5.8 billion and US$6 billion, up from US$4.1 billion in 2025. Mohamed Abu Basha, head of macroeconomic analysis at EFG Hermes, expects the resurgence to continue as Asia-bound oil exports reroute and some European carriers resume Red Sea services.

Why more Suez traffic does not mean less Cape traffic

The intuitive reading — canal up, Cape down — does not hold here. A large share of the increase reflects Saudi crude being loaded on the Red Sea coast to avoid Hormuz, and the ongoing Houthi threat has pushed many of those vessels to exit north through the canal rather than south through the Bab el-Mandeb. That is a shorter, partial Red Sea transit, not a restored Asia–Europe artery.

Container services are a separate question and are being decided vessel by vessel, service by service. Some liner operators have returned strings to the Red Sea; others have moved services back to the Cape on security grounds. Both movements are happening in the same quarter.

The practical consequence for a quote

If transit time on a lane is no longer a property of the lane but of the individual service, then a quoted delivery date built on a routing assumption is a guess unless the assumption is checked. Two identical bookings on the same trade can now differ by two weeks or more depending on which carrier and which string the box is loaded onto.

That variability lands on inland operators as bunched arrivals and moving collection windows, neither of which is priced into a standard annual rate agreement.

About the Author
	Andre Klynsmith Entrepreneur & Technology Enthusiast Andre's expertise spans technology, blockchain, transport, and logistics - with a passion for innovation and driving positive change across industries. info@laaimylorrie.com | laaimylorrie.com