Some good news on international trade from Egypt, home of the Suez Canal.

The Daily News Egypt reports that revenues are up for the canal, thanks to a recent surge in global shipping. And over at Seeking Alpha, there’s a report that the Baltic Dry Index, which which measures the price of transporting raw materials by sea, rose 16 percent over the last week, and 21 percent from its recent lows.

From the Daily News Egypt:

Suez Canal Authority chief Ahmed Fadel said Tuesday that canal revenues rose 11.3 percent over 2009/10 figures, due to an upturn in world trade, state-run daily Al-Ahram reported.

Fadel said 18,050 vessels transited the canal in the last year, up 3.1 percent from the previous year, according to official reports.

“The ships coming through the canal have been on the rise significantly,” Mohamed Helmy Nosier, manager of affiliated companies at Suez Canal Authority (SCA), told Daily News Egypt.

Results in the first half of 2011 showed a marked rise compared to the same period in 2010, with revenues climbing 12.7 percent to $2.5 billion, state-run papers cited Fadel as saying.

The number of vessels passing through the canal increased by 1.7 percent in the first half of 2011.