No LNG carrier has transited the Suez Canal for 65 days

No LNG carrier has passed through the Suez Canal for more than two months, according to new data published from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The last LNG ship to make its way through the Egyptian waterway was on January 16 since when the deteriorating security situation in the Red Sea has seen a mass rerouting of gas carriers around the continent of Africa.

Of all the main commercial shipping segments, LNG stands out as the one to have totally shunned the Suez in recent months, as the UNCTAD chart below highlights.

Overall trade volumes through the Suez Canal plummeted by 50% year-on-year in the first two months of 2024, according to the International Monetary Fund while trade transiting around the Cape of Good Hope surged by an estimated 74%.

Suez Canal transits generated $10.25bn in revenues for Egypt last year, a figure the Suez Canal Authority has admitted could be slashed to around $5bn this year. 

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The latest data from Clarksons Research shows that total Gulf of Aden vessel arrivals for all merchant ship types stand 72% below levels recorded in the first half of December.