August recorded the Suez Canal’s largest monthly profits since the start of the global financial crisis in November 2008, according to a Suez Canal Authority statement issued on Wednesday.

Authority Head - Ahmed Fadel said in the statement that August's returns reached 436 million US dollars, 17.2 per cent up from August 2009's 371.9 million US dollars.

Fadel said that the figures represent a remarkable boom in the canal’s navigation activities, with 1659 ships and 78.3 million tons of cargo passing through its waters in August, compared to 1554 ships with 71.3 million tons in July.

Revenues for the first eight months of this year totaled  3092.7 million US dollars,  opposed to 2754.5 million US dollars for the same period in 2009, indicating a 12.2 percent increase.

The canal's profits witnessed a drop during the 2008-2009 period, which analysts attribute to the decrease in traffic and profit, as a result of the global economic crisis and Somalian piracy in the Gulf of Eden.