Since the ancient pharaohs’ time, the Isthmus of Suez has been the gateway to trade between the East and West. It’s thought that the pharaohs could connect the Red Sea with the Mediterranean using a system of small canals, but the desert sands buried them. Not until the mid-19th century did mankind readdress the problem. Today, more than 20,000 ships transit the canal yearly.
History
There were many projects and surveys for the Suez Canal, but nothing happened until 1854, when Ferdinand de Lesseps, who had served as a diplomat for France in Egypt, persuaded Saʿīd Pasha, the viceroy of Egypt, to grant a preliminary concession for construction of a new canal across the isthmus. A later report recommended a sea-level lockless canal between Suez and the Gulf of Pelusium; and the original concession was superseded by one granted in 1856 to the Suez Canal Company, an international consortium. The concession was to last for 99 years from the canal’s opening to navigation, after which it was to revert to the Egyptian government; the canal was to be an international waterway, open at all times to all ships (commercial and wartime) without discrimination.
Since its construction, the canal has been constantly improved; originally 200 feet wide with a maximum depth of 24 feet, it was widened in 1954 to 500 feet at water level and 196 feet at a depth of 33 feet, with the main channel 45 feet deep, enabling ships of a maximum draft of 37 feet to navigate the canal. The canal remained open despite much political controversy. Nationalised by Egypt in 1956, it was blocked in 1967 after the Arab-Israeli War and remained so until 1975.
Over the years, the Suez Canal has been expanded on many occasions, from an initial length of 102 miles and a depth of 26 feet, to the latest expansion, which brings its length to 120 miles and its depth to 78 feet, allowing it to accommodate the world’s largest vessels. The key global trade route is already one of Egypt’s top foreign currency earners, and is run by a semi-independent authority with 25,000 employees that is considered as one of Egypt’s most competent bodies.
Suez Canal’s Design
The canal is undoubtedly a modern marvel which separates the African continent from Asia, and it provides the shortest maritime route between Europe and the lands lying around the Indian and western Pacific oceans. It is one of the world’s most heavily used shipping lanes. The canal extends 120 miles (193 km) between Port Said (Būr Saʿīd) in the north and Suez in the south, with dredged approach channels north of Port Said, into the Mediterranean, and south of Suez.
Interestingly, the canal does not take the shortest route across the isthmus, which is only 75 miles (121 km). Instead, it utilises several lakes: from north to south, Lake Manzala (Buḥayrat al-Manzilah), Lake Timsah (Buḥayrat al-Timsāḥ), and the Bitter Lakes—Great Bitter Lake (Al-Buḥayrah al-Murrah al-Kubrā) and Little Bitter Lake (Al-Buḥayrah al-Murrah al-Ṣughrā). The Suez Canal is open cut, without locks, and though extensive straight lengths occur, there are eight major bends.
To the west of the canal is the low-lying delta of the Nile River, and to the east is the higher, rugged, and arid Sinai Peninsula. Prior to construction of the canal (completed in 1869), the only important settlement was Suez, which in 1859 had 3,000 to 4,000 inhabitants. The other towns along its banks have grown up since, with the possible exception of Al-Qanṭarah.
Principal Route of Suez Canal
From its northern terminal at Port Said, the canal passes through the salt marsh area of Lake Manzala, with the freshwater canal running parallel. About 30 miles from Port Said, a seven-mile bypass built between 1949 and 1951 enables convoys to pass. At about the halfway point, the canal enters Lake Timsah and passes Ismailia. Thence, the waterway proceeds through the Bitter Lakes and on to Port Tawfīq, the southern terminal on the Red Sea, a few miles from the town of Suez.
Latest Projects on the Suez Canal
The latest Suez Canal expansion brings its length to 120 miles and its depth to 78 feet, allowing it to accommodate the world’s largest vessels, which pass side by side as they travel between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. This was in 2015, when a USD 8.5 billion extension of the waterway project was launched open by Egyptians, without foreign aid. The new extension involved digging and dredging along 45 miles of the 120 mile canal, making a parallel waterway at its center that will accommodate the world’s largest ships passing both ways. With a depth of 79 feet, the canal now allows the simultaneous passage of ships with up to 66 ft. draught.
Today, more than 10 per cent of the world’s trade flows through the waterway, which links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. It allows vessels to avoid having to sail all the way around Africa. The canal is one of Egypt’s top foreign currency earners and is seen as a symbol of a modern state.
In a bid to encourage VLCCs to opt for the Suez Canal rather than sail around the Cape of Good Hope, the Suez Canal Authority decided to extend the toll benefits for the sector until the end of 2018. The arrangement relates to VLCCs coming from the Arabian Gulf or Caribbean Zone on a round trip and transiting the canal after discharging part of their cargo in the SUMED line.
There is market potential for super-size container ships to sail via the Suez Canal from Asia to transshipment terminals currently under development at Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where containers would be transferred to smaller ships sailing to multiple ports located along the Atlantic Coast as well as St Lawrence River and Seaway.
The Way Ahead
The Suez Canal’s revenues rose 5.4 percent to hit USD 5.3 billion in 2017, compared with 5 billion dollars in 2016. The 2017 statistics recorded a noticeable growth in the number of vessels that transited the canal and their cargoes, which proved the economic feasibility of the New Suez Canal.
Suez Canal revenues in Egyptian pound terms surged by 89.5 percent to reach 93.8 billion in 2017, compared to 49.5 billion in 2016, benefiting from the Egyptian pound flotation. The Suez Canal Authority’s policies supported the increase in the number of transited ships and its cargoes to 17,550 vessels and billion tons in 2017, compared to 16,833 vessels in 2016.
