Suez Canal Amends Tolls for Oil Tankers

A shipping container passes through the Suez Canal, Egypt February 15, 2022. Picture taken February 15, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd Al-Ghany
A shipping container passes through the Suez Canal, Egypt February 15, 2022. Picture taken February 15, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd Al-Ghany
TT
20

Suez Canal Amends Tolls for Oil Tankers

A shipping container passes through the Suez Canal, Egypt February 15, 2022. Picture taken February 15, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd Al-Ghany
A shipping container passes through the Suez Canal, Egypt February 15, 2022. Picture taken February 15, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd Al-Ghany

Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority said it will amend a surcharge on loaded crude oil tankers to 25% of normal transit dues and on empty crude oil tankers to 15% of the dues, effective April 1, according to a circular issued on Tuesday.

It added that the additional fees were temporary and could be modified or canceled according to the changes in the maritime transport market.

The Suez Canal is one of the busiest waterways in the world and the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia. It is also one of the main sources of foreign currency for Egypt, with revenues reaching eight billion dollars in 2022.

Separately, the head of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) said on Tuesday that gas production in Egypt would remain stable this year at 6.4 billion cubic feet (bcf) per day, but added that the country had ambitious plans for offshore exploration.

Addressing an energy conference in Cairo, EGAS Chairman Magdy Galal said: “For 2024 and 2025 we have a very good, ambitious drilling campaign. We are planning to drill around 30 exploratory wells, most of them offshore, during the current and next fiscal year.”

He noted that Egypt had the capacity to export about 13 million tons annually through its two liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants, but expected to export about 8 million tons this year, apart from any boost in gas imports from Israel.

Egypt began importing gas from Israel in 2020 as it sought to position itself as a regional energy hub, increasing exports of its own gas and Israeli gas as LNG.

In June, Egypt signed a framework agreement with the European Union and Israel to expand gas exports at a time when Europe rushed to find alternatives to Russian gas.



Anger Against Trump Is Forecast to Cost the US International Visitors 

Replicas of the Statue of Liberty are displayed for sale in a tourist shop in lower Manhattan on March 28, 2025, in New York City. (AFP)
Replicas of the Statue of Liberty are displayed for sale in a tourist shop in lower Manhattan on March 28, 2025, in New York City. (AFP)
TT
20

Anger Against Trump Is Forecast to Cost the US International Visitors 

Replicas of the Statue of Liberty are displayed for sale in a tourist shop in lower Manhattan on March 28, 2025, in New York City. (AFP)
Replicas of the Statue of Liberty are displayed for sale in a tourist shop in lower Manhattan on March 28, 2025, in New York City. (AFP)

Anger over the Trump administration’s tariffs and rhetoric will likely cause international travel to the US to fall even further than expected this year, an influential travel forecasting company said Tuesday.

Tourism Economics said it expects the number of people arriving in the US from abroad to decline by 9.4% this year. That’s almost twice the 5% drop the company forecast at the end of February.

At the beginning of the year, Tourism Economics predicted a booming year for international travel to the US, with visits up 9% from 2024.

But Tourism Economics President Adam Sacks said high-profile lockups of European tourists at the US border in recent weeks have chilled international travelers. Potential visitors have also been angered by tariffs, Trump's stance toward Canada and Greenland, and his heated White House exchange with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“With each policy development, each rhetorical missive, we’re just seeing unforced error after unforced error in the administration,” Sacks said. “It has a direct impact on international travel to the US.”

The decline will have consequences for airlines, hotels, national parks and other sites frequented by tourists.

Tourism Economics expects travel from Canada to plummet 20% this year, a decline that will be acutely felt in border states like New York and Michigan but also popular tourist destinations like California, Nevada and Florida.

The US Travel Association, a trade group, has also warned about Canadians staying away. Even a 10% reduction in travel from Canada could mean 2.0 million fewer visits, $2.1 billion in lost spending and 14,000 job losses, the group said in February.

Other travel-related companies have noted worrying signs. At its annual shareholder meeting on Monday, Air Canada said bookings to the US were down 10% for the April-September period compared to the same period a year ago.

Sacks said he now expects foreign visitors to spend $9 billion less in the US compared to 2024, when international tourism to the country rose 9.1%.

“The irony is that the tariffs are being put in place to help right the trade deficit, but they're harming the trade balance by causing fewer international travelers to come and spend money here,” Sacks said.

Sacks said international arrivals had been getting close to returning to 2019 numbers, before the coronavirus pandemic halted most travel. Now he thinks they won't get back to that level until 2029.