The Suez Canal Authority announced on Sunday an increase in the number of ships transiting the canal in the first quarter of this year compared to the period last year.

As many as 4,067 ships carrying 238,85 million tons crossed through the Suez Canal over the first three months of the 2015 against 4011 vessels carrying 222,537 millions tons passed through the canal in the same period of the past year, according to statistics released by the Suez Canal Authority on Sunday.