International maritime traffic has hit record high at the Suez Canal in Egypt, generating about $15 million daily for the North African country in recent months.

Gorge Safwat, spokesman for the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), disclosed this on Thursday, while hosting 27 top journalists from sub-Saharan Africa at the headquarters of the company in Ismailia District, northeast of Cairo.

The Suez Canal stretches from Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea to the city of Suez on the north eastern shores of the Gulf of Suez, separating Egypt from the Sinai Peninsula.

Mr Safwat explained that up to one billion tons of maritime cargo passed through the canal every year and that up to 20,000 ships had passed through the canal in the first quarter of 2022, carrying goods to various countries around the globe.

He added that the canal, the longest man-made in the world, recorded increased revenue, generating about $5.61 billion in 2020, due to determination and doggedness of Egyptians.

Mr Safwat announced that the company made about $6.3 billion from its activities last year and that construction of the canal 152 years ago demonstrated the will power and can-do spirit of Egyptians.

Tracing the history of the canal, the spokesman said it took about one million Egyptians and 120,000 deaths to put the Suez Canal in place in 1859.

Mr Safwat noted that the number of ships using the canal daily had increased from 45 per day in 2015 to 60 per day at present, describing the route as one of the safest in the world.

In March 2021, a huge container ship, known as Ever Given, belonging to Evergreen Shipping Lines, got wedged and blocked the canal, disrupting global maritime trade for weeks.

However, the ship, which was impounded by the Egyptian government was later released after agreeing a deal on compensation with the government.

The 193-km Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea at the canal’s northern end to the Red Sea in the south and it provides the shortest link between Asia and Europe.

(NAN)