Suez Canal: a vital artery for trade

摘要

The recent social unrest in Egypt and the threat to the security of the Suez Canal have given shipowners and charterers yet another worry line on their brows.The waterway handled 17,225 transits in 2012,including 6,332 box ships: a closure would be a disaster for shipping at a time when the industry is operating in one of the worst markets for many years.During the darkest periods of the Somali piracy crisis the option of diverting container liner ships away from the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden around the Cape of Good Hope was studied by the Asia to Europe lines with a few repositionings and backhaul voyages used as tests.