Bering Tonnage Canals: Suez, Kiel, Panama Fees & Limits
Passage fees and limits
| Passage | Controlled by | Transit fee | Max ship size | Blocked flags | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suez Canal | Egypt | $100,000 | 25,000 TEU | none shown | Shortest way from Northern Europe to the Indian Ocean and Asia. The fee is ten times Kiel's. |
| Bosphorus Strait | Turkey | $15,000 | none shown | none shown | The only way in and out of the Black Sea. No size cap was shown on the tooltip. |
| Kiel Canal | Germany | $10,000 | 2,500 TEU | Russia, Iran | North Sea to Baltic shortcut. Small ships only, and Russian- or Iranian-flagged ships are refused. |
| Panama Canal | Panama | charged, amount not shown yet | none shown | none shown | Present and charges a transit fee. The amount was not shown on screen in any footage we have. |
Fees read from official screenshots:
When a canal is worth paying for
A $100,000 Suez toll sounds steep until you compare it with what a good route earns. The official screenshots include a four-stop North Atlantic loop (New York, Halifax, Liverpool, Rotterdam: 13,999 km, Route Strength 90) whose preview estimates $669,243 per month for one ship. Against numbers like that, a toll that saves days of sailing is usually cheap; what kills a canal is the size cap and the flag list, not the fee.
- Kiel is a small-ship shortcut. Its 2,500 TEU cap means none of the Panamax hulls (3,800-5,200 TEU) fit. Feeder ships moving Baltic cargo to a North Sea depot are the natural users.
- Check flags before routing through Kiel. A ship registered in Russia or Iran is refused. If you reflagged to save on daily costs, make sure you did not pick a banned registry for the routes that ship runs. See flags and licenses.
- Suez fits almost everything. At 25,000 TEU it takes even the 12,500 TEU Delta Mariner seen docked at New York.
- Watch Route Strength. The planner scores every route. The St. Petersburg-Kaliningrad-Mundra route (29,273 km, three stops) scored only 51, against 90 for the shorter Atlantic loop. Long single-leg routes through a canal are not automatically good routes.
How the route planner shows a canal
- Open Routes and start a new route, then click ports on the map to add stops.
- The planner draws the path and drops a tooltip on every canal or strait it uses: name, country, transit fee, max TEU and any blocked flags.
- Tick Avoid on a tooltip to force the path around it.
- The bar at the bottom shows stops, total distance and Route Strength; pick a ship in Preview to see Est. Profit per month.
- Adjust Leg Speed sets speeds per leg; then Confirm.
Chokepoints, closures and politics
Passages and ports are where the game's disruptions bite. Ports close for severe weather, natural disasters, war and conflict and political blockades, and a route through a closed point shows "Route blocked" until it reopens. The store page adds earthquakes, worker strikes and ice-blocked ports. The full list and what to do about each is in the port closures guide.
Canal questions
How much is the Suez Canal in Bering Tonnage?
The transit fee is $100,000 per passage and the canal takes ships up to 25,000 TEU, from the in-game tooltip on an official screenshot.
Why will my ship not use the Kiel Canal?
Two reasons are shown on the tooltip: the canal only takes ships up to 2,500 TEU, and it is Blocked for Russian- and Iranian-flagged ships. A larger ship or one under those flags is routed the long way round Denmark.
Can I avoid a canal on a route?
Yes. Canal tooltips on the route planner have an Avoid checkbox, so you can force the planner around a passage if the fee or a flag ban makes it worse than the detour.
Is the Strait of Hormuz in the game?
The Gulf is on the map and ports there can close for war and conflict: an official screenshot shows an "Action Unavailable: Port closed: War / Conflict" message in the Gulf. The developer has not said how Hormuz itself is modelled; forum players have been joking about it since before launch.