Toll cuts on Suez possible

Slowing consumer demand and problems of piracy make it apparent the Suez Canal will either leave toll rates as they are or lower them in 2009, Reuters reported Thursday.



   The canal authority will announce changes to its toll levels Monday, a few days later than normal (the tolls are usually revealed in late December). A host of uncertainties regarding the global economy has made setting toll levels more difficult than usual, the report said.



   From canceled shipyard orders to laid-up ships, there’s a chance that growth in traffic through the canal that links Asia to Europe would have been stagnant at best. Rates on ocean services between the Far East and Europe plummeted severely in the second half of 2008, prompting most major carriers to withdraw capacity in the trade. But the added worries over piracy in the Gulf of Aden have further clouded the issue. The gulf sits at the mouth of the Red Sea, which leads directly to the Suez Canal. Two more pirate attacks occurred during the past two days.



   An Egyptian cargo ship, the Blue Star, carrying 6,000 tons of fertilizer and 28 crewmen was hijacked off the coast of Somalia, while an Indian cargo ship, the MT Abdul Kalam Azad, narrowly avoided an attack when helicopters chased away its pursuers, the Economic Times reported. The Indian ship is operated by the Shipping Corp. of India, the state-run carrier.

Source: American Shipper