Harbour Master
Harbour Masters
Worldwide there are approximately 3,000 merchant ports and the work of the Harbour Master can vary widely from country to country and from port to port even within the same country.

Since its inception doing business with vessels transiting the Suez Canal in 1924, trade by Leth Agencies has expanded into a global services provider to the world’s shipping industry.
Seizing an early prominent market position in the Suez Canal enabled expansion to the transit hubs of the Turkish Straits, the Panama Canal, the Danish Straits and Singapore waters. Extent of Leth Agencies’ operations in these waterways can be found in the headings at the top of the home page here: https://lethagencies.com/
Shortly into the New Year the company issued statistics for transits of the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal.
Suez Canal
Excel spreadsheet show the number of vessels per category in 2021 compared with 2020 numbers.
Leth reported that 2021 was the best year for the Suez Canal since 2008 with a 10.2% rise in vessels in transit. Capesize vessels have seen the largest increase, that is 46.3% more transits compared with 2020. In all 56.5 vessels transited daily in 2021 and it was found that December 2021 saw 20% more vessels than the previous December, 2020.
Shortly before the recent Christmas holiday, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced that the fixed rebate scheme was extended with minor changes. Details of valid fixed rebates for the period from 1 January to 30 June 2022 may be found here:
https://lethagencies.com/uploads/files/suez/FixedRebateoverviewLethDECEMBER2021.pdf
On 4 November last year the Authority announced an increase in canal tolls of 6% with effect from 1 February 2022. This will apply to all types of ship, except LNG carriers and cruise ships. For more information readers are invited to see the SCA news item to be found here:
https://www.suezcanal.gov.eg/English/MediaCenter/News/Pages/navigation_04-11-2021.aspx
Other news from the Suez Canal Authority shows that two new tugs have been taken into service in the fleet assisting vessels transiting the Suez Canal: Svitzer Suez 1 and Svitzer Suez 2. More information on these valuable assets is available here:
December 2021 and the year in view
Leth Agencies spreadsheet data on Suez Canal transits for December 2021 and comparison with the year’s monthly totals are to be found attached.
Panama Canal
Records show that 38.4 vessels transited the Canal each day in December 2021.
The average northbound transits each day totalled 19.8 with 18.5 southbound.
For news from Canal de Panamá readers are invited to download the publication Propelling the Canal Forward, the outlook by the Panama Canal leaders for 2022, here: https://micanaldepanama.com/canal-connection-en/
December 2021 and the year in view
Leth Agencies daily transits of the Panama Canal for December 2021 with a comparison month-by-month over the year can be found on the accompanying pdf.
LethAgencies are investing considerable time and financial resources into improving client services. Going online, before most competitors in order to ease clients’ access through user-friendly communication tools, was a milestone in the transit agent industry, it was reported.
The agency’s Internet-based, online Suez Toll Calculator set new standards for cost and time-operations some 15 years ago, and was widely used by clients, ship operators at large as well as by the competition. Today clients have the benefit of conducting all their transit-related management tasks via the website.
Picture captions
Suez Canal. Photo: Christia. Hellerud, Leth Agencies.
Panama Canal. Photo: Jacob Guldager, Leth Agencies.
On 26 July the UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) announced its intention to develop options for the withdrawal from global paper chart production by late 2026 to increase focus on its digital navigation products and services.
In response to users
Plans to withdraw the UKHO’s portfolio of ADMIRALTY Standard Nautical Charts (SNCs) and Thematic Charts are in response to more marine, naval and leisure users primarily using digital products and services for navigation. The ADMIRALTY Maritime Data Solutions digital navigation portfolio can be updated in near real-time, greatly enhancing safety of life at sea (SOLAS).
In a bid to strengthen relationships and interoperability, the US Coast Guard conducted a multilateral search and rescue drill alongside longtime partners from the UK, Japan, and the west Pacific Republic of Palau in late July. This was reported by USCG Forces Micronesia from Santa Rita, Guam, early in August.
In the words of Lieutenant Commander Field Cassiano, Coast Guard liaison officer to the Compact of Free Association States: ‘We thrive on these opportunities, and we all came away with a deepened appreciation for the work of our respective agencies.
‘Anyone who spends time in the Pacific is no stranger to the region's vast distances and limited resources. Evolutions like this provide invaluable face-to-face interaction and enable us to work through challenges before an incident or crisis.’