Oil Tankers Flood Back Into Suez Canal As Red Sea Risk Grows

Egypt's Suez Canal posted a sharp rise in monthly receipts for July 2026, with revenues reaching $505 million, according to CAPMAS figures cited by Bloomberg and reported by OilPrice.com. That total marks a 42% increase from July 2025 and also exceeds the $438 million recorded in June 2026. Transit activity rose alongside receipts, with 1,340 vessels using the waterway in July, up 27% year-on-year.

The uptick was driven in part by a growing number of oil tankers choosing the Suez route. Tanker passages rose to 526 in July from 485 in June, reflecting operator decisions to avoid the southern Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait after security threats. The Iran-aligned Houthi group announced a blockade in the area in July and carried out attacks on some Saudi tankers, prompting shipowners and charterers to seek alternate routes.

Saudi Arabia adjusted its export routing amid the disruptions. While Riyadh had earlier shifted much crude to the western port of Yanbu because of tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, it has further rerouted shipments northward: some crude is moved by tanker to Egypt's Ain Sukhna on the Red Sea and then transported overland through the SUMED pipeline to the Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir. Other laden tankers have been diverted through the Suez Canal to bypass the Bab el-Mandeb.

The changes in routing have lengthened voyages for some Asia-bound cargoes, with a portion of Saudi crude opting for the much longer path via the Suez, the Mediterranean and around Africa. Those detours, together with the broader shift in traffic, have contributed to the higher toll revenues recorded for the canal in July.