Dubai · Gulf Edu
Suez Canal's revenue jumped by 42% in July from the same month last year as the number of oil tankers passing through the Egyptian gateway to the Mediterranean surged amid threats to shipping in the southern Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The revenues rose to $505 million in July, according to data from Egyptian statistics agency CAPMAS cited by Bloomberg. This is well above the $355 million revenue in July 2025 and $438 million in June 2026. The number of ships that transited the Suez Canal in July 2026 soared by 27% on the year to 1,340 vessels. The number of oil tankers jumped to 526 in July from 485 in June, following the Houthi threats to shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Saudi Arabia, which had already re-routed most of its crude oil exports to the Western port of Yanbu on the Red Sea due to the Strait of Hormuz crisis, had to further detour tankers north to the Suez Canal and a pipeline to the Egyptian port of Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean. Since the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen announced in July a blockade on Saudi shipments in the southern Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Saudi Arabia has been shuttling crude oil tankers from Yanbu to the Egyptian port of Ain Sukhna on the Red Sea, then via the SUMED onshore pipeline to Egypt's Sidi Kerir port. The Houthi threat, which resulted in several attacks on Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, has prompted Saudi and Western operators to divert laden tankers to the Suez Canal in Egypt to bypass the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The Houthi threats to shipping in the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb have already forced some oil tankers carrying Saudi crude to Asia to choose the much longer route through the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean, and around Africa.
