The Suez Canal: a strategic point

It is a maritime canal that connects the Mediterranean, departing from Port Said (190 km from the city of Cairo) to the city of Suez, in the Gulf of Suez.

This idea of ​​a canal already dates back to ancient times since the pharaoh Sethi around 1300 BC. BC had thought of a canal connecting the Nile River to the Adriatic Sea. This canal was called the canal of the pharaohs.

Closer to us, in 1833, the canal became relevant again and construction work began in 1854 and ended in 1869 during the Second Empire.
This canal was the work of Mr. Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French diplomat and entrepreneur, supported by Napoleon III. The inauguration of the canal gave rise to a very large international demonstration.

Currently the canal measures 193 km in length, between 280 and 345 meters wide and a depth of 24 meters allowing a maximum draft of 20 m with boats of 240,000 dwt (heavy port ton). Navigation is necessarily carried out by convoys and the fact of crossing 3 lakes, including the large Amer Lake (200 km²), allows circulation in both directions.
Three bridges were built on the canal: a 424 m floating bridge, a 3900 m cable-stayed bridge which spans the canal at a height of 70 m and a 640 m swing bridge (the longest in the world), as well as a 5 km road tunnel allowing Egyptians to reach the Sinai peninsula.

Who owns this Suez Canal?

Until 1956, it was placed under military protection from Great Britain in order to control its possessions in the Middle East, as well as the route to India. On July 29, 1956, the new Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal and sequestered the assets of the Suez Universal Company, hence the sending of an expeditionary force composed of English, French and Israeli soldiers.
To date, the canal belongs entirely to Egypt and represents a significant financial windfall of around 10% of Egyptian GDP.

The Suez Canal is increasingly becoming an important navigable route between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea as it allows faster maritime connections between Asia, China, the Near and Middle East with Europe. This is a primary route for transporting LNG (liquid natural gas) and oil. 5,200 oil tankers used the canal in 2022. The duration of the crossing lasts approximately from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. taking into account anchorages following convoy crossings, the speed is 6 to 9 knots (one sea knot = 1,852 m) .

In 2015, 17,500 ships carrying 1 billion tonnes of goods passed through the canal, or 8% of global maritime trade. In 2020, 19,000 ships used it, at an average of 52 ships per day. Unfortunately, in recent months, traffic has decreased considerably, down 42%, due to attacks launched by Yemeni Houthi rebels supported by Iran against Israel's allies, and thus helping the Palestinians.

If the right of passage for the Suez Canal is quite expensive, around 400,000 to 700,000 dollars for a large ship or a container ship, it saves time of around ten days compared to bypassing the Africa. This right of passage corresponds to the additional fuel incurred for going around the Cape of Good Hope, in the south of Africa.

This canal also allowed the development of the cities of Port Said and Suez and the birth of the city of Ismailia, seat of the canal administration. These three cities each have 750,000 inhabitants.

Concerning the future of the canal, major objectives are planned. Firstly, increase the Egyptian national income with foreign currencies, double the canal over 72 km in order to reduce vessel waiting times to 3 hours and therefore reduce the duration of the crossing, etc....

Let us not forget that more than 1.5 million people worked to make this canal and that several thousand lost their lives there.