Maersk to Ditch Panama Canal and Use Suez

Maersk the world’s largest shipping company has decided to stop using the Panama Canal to transport goods from Asia to the U.S. East cost and instead use the Suez Canal.

According to the shipping company they will begin using vessels that can carry as many as 9,000 20 – foot boxes at a time instead of two ships carrying 4,500 boxes through the Panama Canal, thus making it more cost effective for them.

According to Soeren Skou, chief executive officer, “The economics are much, much better via the Suez Canal simply because you have half the number of ships,” Skou said. “One of the reasons for why this is happening now is that the cost for passing through the Panama Canal has gone up. At the end of the day, it comes down to cost.”

Since the prices in Panama have gone up, companies such as Maerska will be looking for alternative roots such as the Suez Canal, time will tell the consistency of such decisions.

We Said This: So what does this mean for Egypt and it’s ailing economy, possibly a silver lining?