Egypt's Suez Canal is an artificial waterway that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, allowing the passage of both commercial and military ships between Europe and East Asia without circumnavigating Africa. It represents the shortest maritime route between Europe and the countries around the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean, standing as the beating heart of trade and navigation, and is among the most trafficked and congested water routes in the world.
The average journey duration does not exceed two weeks between the European continent and the regions bordering the Pacific and Indian Oceans, in contrast to the distance that would pass through the Suez Isthmus located 121 kilometers away from the Canal.
Currently, the Suez Canal is 193 kilometers long, stretching from Port Said to the city of Suez, and holds the title of the world's longest water passage. It surpasses the Kiel Canal in Germany, which links the North Sea with the Baltic Sea and measures only 98 kilometers in length, and also exceeds the length of the Panama Canal between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which is 77 kilometers long.
Due to its navigational importance and increasing traffic, the Suez Canal has undergone several expansions which have altered its size. Its original length of 164 kilometers has been extended to 193 kilometers, its depth increased from 8 meters to 24 meters, and its width widened from 52 meters to 205 meters. Navigation in the Canal was initially only possible during daylight hours, but over time, nighttime passage has also become permissible.
The Suez Canal Development
The naming of the Suez Canal is predominantly associated with its proximity to the Suez Isthmus, which the canal crosses, as the Port Said area marks its starting point.
Another group of scholars believes that the naming dates back to the city of Suez, located south of the Canal, as it was the area where initial excavation work began during the construction of the Canal.
However, the majority view links the naming to the Suez Isthmus rather than to the city of Suez. Notably, during the era of the companion Amr ibn al-As, it was called the "Canal of the Commander of the Believers."
Some historiographies suggest that it was Amr ibn al-As who named the then-closed waterway, which he reopened and used to enhance Egypt's economic model focused on agriculture and irrigation.
The Canal's Location
Bordered to the north by the coastal city of Port Said and the city of Suez to the south, the Suez Canal has the low-lying Nile River Delta to its west and the elevated Sinai Peninsula to its east.
The Canal contains two channels: a 22-kilometer northern section and a 9-kilometer southern section, which enables it to stretch north to south, passing through the Suez Isthmus and several lakes, with Lake Timsah and Lake Manzala being the most famous, along with the Great Bitter Lake and the Little Bitter Lake.
The Canal features straight sections and eight major bends, with varying soil types across different areas, including sedimentary soil, sandy patches, and more cohesive soils interspersed with rocky strata in the southern region.
The History
Historical evidence suggests that the concept of creating the Suez Canal was first entertained by the Egyptian Pharaoh Senusret III. The first excavation work commenced in April 1859, and after two years of trial operations (from 1867), the Canal officially opened on November 17, 1869.
The construction took 10 years of diligent work with over 20,000 Egyptian laborers, and the Suez Canal Company, formerly under French control, was managed by predominantly French presidents from 1855 to 1956. Since July 1956, the Canal's operations have been in the hands of Egyptian experts.
Despite most historical accounts crediting Pharaoh Senusret III of the 12th Dynasty as the pioneer of the idea to connect the Mediterranean and Red Seas, the Suez Canal possesses an ancient history dating back to 610 BCE, with periods oscillating between acute interest and significant neglect.
Some writings reveal that the Canal was filled with silt, leading to the Great Bitter Lakes' disconnection from the Red Sea. Consequently, Pharaoh Necho II, in 610 BCE, re-excavated the Canal but only managed to connect it with the Nile River, stopping short of extending it to the Red Sea.
The Persian king Darius I also showed great interest in the Canal, and despite his attempt in 285 BCE to connect the Bitter Lakes with the Red Sea, he only succeeded in linking them with the Nile, as Necho II had done. The ambition to fully extend the Canal to the sea persisted.
In 285 BCE, Ptolemy II revived the waterway after overcoming the obstacles that had thwarted previous efforts, managing to excavate the part between the Bitter Lakes and the Red Sea. Since then, the Suez Canal gained significant prominence and garnered the attention of kings for its role in trade and navigation.
Under Roman rule, in 98 AD, Emperor Trajan ordered the construction of a new canal from Cairo to the village of Abassia in Sharqia Governate. However, over time, neglect rendered it unusable for navigation.
In 641 AD, the companion Amr ibn al-As restored navigation between the Red Sea and the Nile River by re-excavating the channel. In 760 AD, for political reasons, the Abbasid Caliph Abu Jafar al-Mansur filled the Canal, prompting reliance on land routes.
Up until 1820, Muhammad Ali Pasha, who governed Egypt between 1805 and 1848, ordered repairs to part of the Canal between Abassia and Al-Qassasin.
Some historians argue that the actual history of the Suez Canal began with the issuance of the first concession decree in 1854, which granted the French politician and diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps the rights to create a company for the excavation and supervision of the Suez Canal and determined the terms for its use, ensuring all nations equal passage without discrimination or privilege. Other decrees followed, including one from January 5, 1856, confirming the Canal's neutrality towards commercial vessels.
The inauguration of the Universal Company of the Maritime Suez Canal on December 15, 1858, was backed by a capital of 200 million French francs (8 million pounds), relying on subscriptions from various countries, including Egypt, England, the United States, Russia, and Austria, each holding a share in the venture (500 francs per share).
The initial phase was fraught with challenges; all countries eventually withdrew from the agreement, leaving Egypt to buy the relinquished shares and borrow at a high-interest rate to safeguard the Suez Canal project.
On April 25, 1859, the excavation commenced, concluding with the official opening in 1869. Its strategic location did not exempt the Suez Canal from being a focal point for countries coveting control over it.
Due to political tensions, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal Company on July 26, 1956, inciting the ire of France and Britain as the predominant beneficiaries of the Canal. This dispute escalated into the tripartite aggression (British-French-Israeli) against Egypt in 1956.
Economic Impact
The geographic location of the Suez Canal renders it a premier global and strategic naval passageway, significantly shortening the maritime trade route between Europe and Asia, eliminating the need for a longer detour around the African continent.
Observers note that this waterway captures the movement of approximately one-third of the world's ships, with thousands of commercial and military vessels of various nationalities traversing it yearly, accounting for 10% of the international maritime trade movement.
The Suez Canal brings East and West closer together, serving as a substantial source of income and injecting considerable momentum into Egypt's economic lifeblood, benefiting the economies of all nations that rely on the Canal as a primary conduit for their vessels.
The Suez Canal is a key foreign currency source for Egypt, generating revenue of $9.4 billion in the 2022-2023 fiscal year. In the early-1990s, it was Egypt's third-highest revenue source, following remittances from Egyptians abroad and commodity exports.
The Canal has consistently shared the spotlight with the Petroleum Authority for achieving the highest surpluses among economic authorities, contributing about 40% of its profits to the Egyptian state. For instance, in the 2020/2021 fiscal year, the Suez Canal Authority paid 28.7 billion Egyptian pounds in taxes, slightly down from 31 billion pounds in the previous fiscal year. The state garnered profits of 47 billion Egyptian pounds during the same year, compared to 44.8 billion pounds the year before.
Expansion
To alleviate significant pressure on the Suez Canal, Egyptian authorities embarked on expanding it to include dual passages, establishing a new parallel "Suez Canal."
This project commenced in 2014 and was completed in the summer of 2015, with the new canal extending 72 kilometers in length.
This expansion contributed to an increase in Canal revenues over five years (2016-2020), reaching $32.442 billion, according to official Egyptian figures.
