CAIRO, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- The revenues of the traffic fares of Egypt's Suez Canal saw a year-on-year increase of 3.4 percent to reach 4.34 billion U.S. dollars from January to October 2017, said head of the canal's authority on Saturday.
"The navigation traffic in the Suez Canal from January to October registered a 3.1 percent increase in terms of the number of passing ships," said Mohab Mamish, head of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).
The SCA chief noted that 14,486 ships passed through the canal from January to October 2017 compared with 14,053 ships last year.
He said that the SCA follows up attentively the development of the maritime industry and the changes of world economic indicators, hailing his authority's recent flexible promotion policies that have managed to attract new navigators.
"Egypt is proceeding in making best use of the canal's distinguished geographic location through carrying out the national development project of the Suez Canal region, which includes the development of six ports and the establishment of complete logistic and industrial zones," he added.
The Suez Canal is one of Egypt's main sources of national income and foreign currency reserves, apart from tourism and foreign investment that have been suffering decline over the past few years from political turmoil and relevant security challenges.
