Where is Suez Canal?

The Suez Canal is the world’s longest canal without locks, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea via the Isthmus of Suez. Various European factions had considered building a canal in the area since at least the 15th century. 

The French conducted the first modern survey of the isthmus during their occupation of Egypt from 1798 to 1801. Still, engineers incorrectly calculated that the Red Sea was 10 meters (33 feet) higher than the Mediterranean, thus requiring locks. This miscalculation went unchallenged for decades, leading to the end of any investment in the Suez Canal project.

However, doubts about the feasibility of the project persisted over the following decades, as European explorers and engineers re-studied the Isthmus of Suez and found that the difference in elevation between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea was negligible (the Red Sea is about 1.5 degrees. meters, or about 5 feet, higher than the Mediterranean).

Finally, with cooperation between the French and the Ottomans, the Suez Canal Company was established on December 15, 1858, led by diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps. After months of engineering and planning, construction on the canal began on April 25, 1859.

What Is The Length Of The Suez Canal In Miles?

Before this year, the Suez Canal had only been closed five times since it was first opened to navigation in the 19th century.

The Ever Given, which was stuck in the Suez Canal for nearly a week, causing a historic closure of the vital trade route, has now partially refloated.

However, the ship has not yet been freed, and efforts to free it are ongoing. At least 367 ships carrying everything from crude oil to livestock are still waiting to pass through the vital waterway.

The Suez Canal is 120 miles (193 kilometres) long and is a vital sea route between the Mediterranean and Red Seas.

While the length has remained the same in recent years, Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority announced plans in August 2014 to deepen the canal to facilitate navigation by modern tankers.

In addition to the canal deepening project, a new corridor 35 kilometres long branching off the main canal was built. The improvement was completed and opened to ships in 2015. The canal is now 205 meters (about 672 feet) wide.

Construction was expected to take six years, but it took ten. Initially, excavation work was done through forced labour, with thousands working under the threat of violence for little or no pay. They dug trenches with shovels and baskets in the desert heat. Working conditions were terrible, and tens of thousands of workers died, most of them from diseases such as smallpox, tuberculosis, and cholera. 

The Suez Canal was originally a single-lane waterway with two crossings. After several expansion projects, the canal is 193 km (120 mi) long, 24 m (79 ft) deep, and 205 m (673 ft) wide. There is also a second track east of the original track, 72 km (45 mi) long, which allows ships travelling in the opposite direction to pass.

 In 2021, more than 20,600 ships passed through the canal (an average of 56 ships per day). Two ships pass through the canal every day, one heading south and one north. It takes 11 to 16 hours to pass through the Suez Canal at a speed of about 8 knots (15 km/h; 9 mph). The slow speed is necessary to reduce wear and tear caused by the ship’s wake.

Sailing the Suez Canal has significantly reduced the distance and travel time between Europe and ports in Asia and Australia. Before the Suez Canal, ships sailed from the North Atlantic, around Africa, then across the Indian Ocean and beyond. Ships can now sail the Mediterranean into the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. For example, the distance between Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Mumbai, India, is reduced by about 7,965 kilometres (4,950 miles). 

The Suez Canal: An Engineering Feat that Revolutionized Global Trade

A ship sailing at 20 knots can save about nine days. The costs of using the Suez Canal are calculated using a complex formula, but for simplicity, they depend on the ship’s size and the cargo amount. A one-way transit for a large container ship costs about $657,000, but considering the cost of fuel and the possibility of bad weather when passing through South Africa, the Suez Canal transit is still worth it.

When was the Suez Canal built?

The Suez Canal opened to navigation on November 17, 1869, after centuries of attempts to build a canal connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas via a tributary of the Nile.

According to the Suez Canal Authority, the Egyptian pharaoh Senusret III (r. 1874 BC) first attempted to build the canal in 1310 BC. However, the channel was abandoned due to sedimentation. In the following centuries, several attempts were made to reopen the original canal, but none were successful.

The successful attempt to build the Suez Canal began in 1858 when the Universal Maritime Company of the Suez Canal (La Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez) was founded.

Although La Compagnie was founded in 1858, digging and constructing the canal did not begin until April 25, 1859. It took hundreds of thousands of workers over 10 years to complete the canal.

According to the Suez Canal Authority, the canal was completed after “ten years of hard and poorly paid work by Egyptian workers, recruiting 20,000 workers from the peasantry every ten months.”

Construction was briefly halted in 1863 after Egypt’s ruler Ismail Pasha banned forced labour. From there, the French introduced shovels and bulldozers powered by steam and coal to dig trenches. Ultimately, they removed 75 million cubic meters (98 million cubic yards) of material to build the main canal.

The Suez Canal opened on November 17, 1869. The 1888 Treaty of Constantinople formally established the canal as a neutral zone under British protection, which was later confirmed in the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty. Over time, the canal became a neutral zone, an area protected by Britain. 

Britain’s continued occupation angered the Egyptians. A few years after Egypt abandoned the treaty, Britain agreed in October 1954 to transfer the management of the Suez Canal to Egypt. Control and use of the canal became a source of dispute in the region, particularly between Egypt and Israel. A 20-year conflict ensued until the two countries reached a temporary peace in 1975.

The Suez Canal is seen from space. The channel is a blue line that runs through the image from right to left. Near the middle, a second blue line splits to form another channel of the channel. The Suez Canal was seen from space in June 2021. 

The Mediterranean Sea (north side) is to the left, and the Red Sea (south side) is to the right. The image is a composite of 100 photos by astronaut Thomas Pesquet.