Suez Canal Earns 567.1 Million Dollars in August as Net Tonnage Climbs 51.1 Percent
The Suez Canal earned 567.1 million dollars in August from 1,358 transits carrying 68.3 million net tons, the Suez Canal Authority said on Sunday. Against August 2025, when 1,070 ships carried 45.2 million net tons, the number of transits rose 27 percent and net tonnage rose 51.1 percent.
Admiral Ossama Rabiee, its chairman, gave the figures at a World Maritime Day event in Alexandria. He said the waterway is safe, that navigation is regular, and that recent disruption to global trade had shown there is no sustainable alternative route to the canal.
Tonnage is growing almost twice as fast as traffic
Net tonnage grew 51.1 percent while the number of transits grew 26.9 percent on our calculation, so the average transit came to about 50,295 net tons in August against about 42,243 a year earlier. That is an increase of 19.1 percent per transit, on our calculation. Both the number of transits and the average net tonnage per transit rose.
| Measure | August 2025 | August 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transits | 1,070 | 1,358 | +26.9% |
| Net tonnage, million tons | 45.2 | 68.3 | +51.1% |
| Average net tons per transit | 42,243 | 50,295 | +19.1% |
| Transits per day | 34.5 | 43.8 | +26.9% |
Suez Canal Authority, 20 September 2026. The change column, the per transit and per day rows are our calculation from the monthly totals over 31 days. The release rounds the rise in transits to 27 percent.
Revenue per transit and the container trend
August’s 567.1 million dollars works out at about 417,600 dollars per transit and about 8.30 dollars per net ton, on our calculation.
Container ships show a similar trend. Figures released on 16 September put container ship net tonnage for January to August 2026 at approximately 72.1 million tons, against 46.7 million in the same period of 2025, an increase of 54.2 percent.
Why it matters: August’s figures show both traffic and net tonnage well above the same month of 2025, with tonnage rising considerably faster. Average net tonnage per transit increased 19.1 percent on our calculation, pointing to a higher-tonnage traffic mix alongside the rise in transit numbers.
Outlook: the next read is the canal’s September traffic figures. The number to watch is average net tonnage per transit. A figure near August’s 50,295 tons would show the shift toward higher-tonnage traffic holding.
Sources: Suez Canal Authority, The Edge.
