A total of 338 ships transited the Suez Canal with a total load of 19,388 million tonnes from November 6 to 12, compared to 322 ships with 18,214 million tonnes during the week before that, according to traffic data released by the canal.

The total number of ships that transited the canal since the beginning of the year to November 12, reached 15,276 ships, said the Daily News Egypt report.

On average, 28 ships transited the canal every day last week, with an average load of 2.8m tonnes per day, compared to 46 ships with an average load of 2.6m tonnes per day during the week before last, it said.

The average load of each ship amounted to 57,363 tonnes, compared to 56,566 tonnes during the period of comparison.

In comparison to July 2015, the month before the inauguration of the New Suez Canal, 47 ships on average transited the canal every day, with an average load of 2.758 million tonnes per day.

In the last week, the weight of the largest three ships that transited the canal was about 200,360 tonnes.

The weight of cargo is the main measure of the growth of the Suez Canal shipping traffic, as passage fees are calculated based on it.

The number of ships transiting the canal from the West, coming from the North through Port Said gate, last week, reached about 177 ships with a daily average of 25 ships. The total loads reached 9.342m tonnes, with a daily average of 1.334m tonnes.

The number of ships transiting the New Suez Canal from the East, through the Southern gate of the canal, reached about 161 ships, with a daily average of 23 ships. The total loads reached 10.076m tonnes, with a daily average of 1.439m tonnes, added the report.