In a bid to compete with the Panama Canal’s capability to handle larger vessels, the Suez Canal has announced that it has extended discounts offered to container lines travelling to and from Asia and the US East Coast, according to JOC.com.
This follows recent news that the Suez Canal could increase its revenue and competitiveness by acquiring new customers in countries highly exposed to oil prices, a less cyclical business unit, as well as more tug boats.
PTI previously reported Jorge Quijano, CEO of the Panama Canal Authority as stating that the Suez Canal is not a concern for the Panama Canal due to its belief that the US is growing and will result in high volumes to the US West Coast.
However, despite this, the Suez Canal was shown to have higher throughput than Panama in Q2, 2015 by more than 50,000 TEU.
The Suez Canal recently completed its US$8.5 billion expansion, with Francois Hollande, President of France attending the inauguration in August, 2015.
The Panama Canal is due to be inaugurated on June 26, 2016.
