High Suez tolls could be reviewed

The extremely high cost of transiting the Suez or Panama Canals has recently seen a large number of shipping lines and consortia deviating main-line services around the Cape of Good Hope. But reports are that the authorities at both canals may be looking at the currently unsustainable tolls – with a Suez passage for a large boxship, for example, costing well in excess of US$500 000 per voyage. With weak cargo volumes, rock-bottom freight rates, availability of surplus tonnage and falling bunker prices, the high rates have led to an increasing number of service deviations via the Cape, and what AXS Alphaliner described as “quirky round-the-world sailing patterns”. But this may soon be abandoned, as the canal operators are rumoured to be considering a revision of tolls. Said the AXS report: “Despite earlier announcements that canal toll rates will not be reduced, both the Suez and Panama Canal authorities are now believed to be considering price adjustments in order to regain the lost business.” Also, several other media reports claim that the operators of the Suez Canal would be willing to make some concessions before May and the Panama Canal Authority is likely to follow. But there is as yet no clarity on exactly how these concessions will be structured and how the carriers’ savings will be passed on to shippers. Reports said that the Suez Canal authority was considering ‘more flexible’ tariffs and ‘incentive programmes’. The suggestion is that the latter may be aimed exclusively at liner companies that send ships through the Canal on a regular basis rather than tramp owners that only make occasional transits. Meantime, some shipping lines are trying to cost the high transit fees into their invoices – with MSC, for example, announcing an increase of its Suez surcharge from US$9 to US$50 per TEU, effective immediately.