The Suez Canal links the sea. New Suez "prosperity channel": Egypt hopes for an economic miracle

08.01.2022

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Image copyright EPA Image caption Several container ships proceeded along the new waterway

On Saturday, the second phase of the Suez Canal was successfully tested. Several container ships flying flags different countries overcame a 72-kilometer segment, laid parallel to the old one. The official opening is scheduled for August 6th.

The canal was built in just a year compared to 10 years required in the 19th century for the construction of the first stage, cost 8.5 billion dollars and is expected to increase the income of the Egyptian treasury from the operation of the waterway from the current 5.3 billion to 13.2 billion dollars a year.

The purpose of the project is to ensure two-way traffic of ships. In the future, from south to north, they will follow the old, and from north to south along the new channel. This will avoid congestion and waiting, reduce the passage time of the canal from 18 to 11 hours and increase the daily productivity from 49 to 97 ships.

The Suez Canal provides 7% of the world's maritime cargo turnover, plays a key role in supplying Europe with Middle Eastern oil, and for Egypt is the second source of foreign exchange income after tourism and a source of national pride.

A matter of prestige

The new channel, like the old one, will be state property. The construction was financed from internal sources. The Egyptian government issued a loan at 12% per annum, and large and small investors snapped up bonds within just eight days. The work was carried out around the clock with the large-scale participation of the engineering units of the Egyptian army.

The ceremonial laying of the canal in August last year was accompanied by a pompous air parade and optimistic speeches. President Fattah al-Sisi called the project "Egypt's great dream" and a "prosperity channel", promising the nation an economic and employment boost.

The head of the administration of the Suez Canal, Admiral Mohab Mamish, spoke of the "new birth of the country" and called the construction site "a peaceful battle for development."

Like our ancestors 150 years ago, we are building a canal for our children and grandchildren and for all mankind Mohab Mamish, head of the administration of the Suez Canal

"Like our ancestors 150 years ago, we are building a canal for our children and grandchildren and for all of humanity," he told the BBC.

According to Investment Minister Ashraf Salman, the project will "put Egypt back on the world map" after a period of instability, when two presidents, Hosni Mubarak and Mohammed Morsi, were forcibly overthrown in the country in 2011-2013.

According to the regime's critics, the money would be better spent on improving the infrastructure of Cairo and other Egyptian cities suffering from overcrowding.

"For the authorities, this is primarily a patriotic undertaking, the meaning of which is not limited solely to money," Angus Blair, a financial analyst living in Egypt, told the BBC.

Security issue

Saturday's test took place under the control of warships and helicopters, since the Sinai Peninsula lying to the east of the canal is known as a base for radical Islamists, but everything went smoothly.

Despite the political upheavals of recent years, the operation of the Suez Canal has never been disrupted.

The only incident - which caused minor material damage - took place on August 31, 2013. The next day, Admiral Mamish personally sailed through the canal in both directions to prove that he was all right.

The initial phase of construction was accompanied by technical emergencies: the flooding of part of the channel and the collapse of the bridge, but there were no casualties.

In addition, the Egyptian postal department issued a stamp in honor of the project, the Panama Canal was depicted.

Story

The first Suez Canal was built under the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II (late 7th - early 6th century BC), but then fell into disrepair.

In modern times, the idea of laying a short waterway between Europe and Asia was put forward in 1849 by the former French consul in Alexandria Ferdinand Lesseps, whose father, Jean Lesseps, participated in the La Perouse expedition, traveled overland from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Paris and during its occupation by Napoleon's troops .

In 1854, Lesseps created the Franco-Egyptian General Company of the Suez Canal and received a concession from the Egyptian Khedive (subsequently, British investors bought out the Egyptian government's share). In 1859, construction began, headed by Lesseps, and on November 17, 1869, the canal went into operation.

In 1956, the nationalist Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Britain and France, with the assistance of Israel, tried to return their property by force, but to no avail, since the USSR actively supported Egypt, and the United States took a position of non-intervention.

After the Six-Day War in 1967, the canal became the dividing line between Egypt and Israel, but even then navigation through it did not stop. Under the Camp David Accords of 1978, Egypt regained control of the Sinai Peninsula.

Suez Canal

Suez Canal- a lockless navigable canal in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The canal zone is considered a conditional border between the two continents, Africa and Eurasia. The shortest waterway between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea of the Atlantic Ocean (an alternative route is 8 thousand km longer). The Suez Canal was opened to navigation November 17, 1869. Main ports: Port Said And Suez.

Suez Canal on the map and view from space

Located west of the Sinai Peninsula, the Suez Canal has length 160 kilometers, width along the water table up to 350 m, along the bottom - 45-60 m, depth 20 m. It is located in Egypt between Port Said in the Mediterranean and Suez on the Red Sea. On the east side of the canal opposite Port Said is Port Fuad where the Administration of the Suez Canal is located. On the east side of the canal opposite Suez is Port Taufik. On the canal in the area of Lake Timsakh there is a large industrial center - the city Ismailia.

The canal allows water transport to pass in both directions between Europe and Asia without going around Africa. Prior to the opening of the canal, transportation was carried out by unloading ships and by land transportation between the Mediterranean and Red Seas.

The channel consists of two parts - to the north and south of the Great Bitter Lake, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea.

The current in the canal in the winter months comes from the bitter lakes to the north, and in the summer back from the Mediterranean Sea. To the south of the lakes, the current changes depending on the tides.

The canal consists of two parts - north and south of the Great Bitter Lake, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea

According to the Administration of the Suez Canal, the income from its operation in 2010 amounted to 4.5 billion dollars. United States, making it the second largest source of income for Egypt's budget after tourism, which brought in 13 billion US dollars. In 2011, revenues already amounted to $5.22 billion, while 17,799 vessels passed through the canal, which is 1.1 percent less than a year earlier.

Story

Possibly as early as the Twelfth Dynasty, Pharaoh Senusret III (1888-1878 BC) laid a canal from west to east, dug through the wadi Tumilat, connecting the Nile with the Red Sea, for unhindered trade with Punt. Later, the powerful Egyptian pharaohs Ramses II and Necho II were engaged in the construction and restoration of the canal. Herodotus (II. 158) writes that Necho II (610-595 BC) began to build a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, but did not finish it.

The canal was completed around 500 BC by King Darius I, the Persian conqueror of Egypt. In memory of this event, Darius erected granite steles on the banks of the Nile, including one near Carbet, 130 kilometers from Pie.

In the III century BC. e. the canal was brought into a navigable state by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247). It began a little higher up the Nile than the former channel, in the area of Facussa. It is possible, however, that under Ptolemy the old canal was cleared, deepened and extended to the sea, supplying the lands of Wadi Tumilat with fresh water. The fairway was wide enough - two triremes could freely disperse in it.

Emperor Trajan (98-117) deepened the canal and increased its navigability. The canal was known as the "River of Trajan", it provided navigation, but then was again abandoned.

In 776, on the orders of Caliph Mansur, it was finally covered up so as not to divert trade routes from the center of the Caliphate.

In 1569, on the orders of the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmed Sokollu, a plan was developed to restore the canal, but it was not implemented.

Channel recovery

More than a thousand years passed before the next attempt to dig a canal. In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte, while in Egypt, considered building a canal connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. He entrusted the production of preliminary surveys to a special commission headed by engineer Leper. The commission came to the erroneous conclusion that the water level of the Red Sea was 9.9 m higher than the water level of the Mediterranean Sea, which would not have allowed the canal to be built without locks. According to Leper's project, it was supposed to go from the Red Sea to the Nile partly along the old route, cross the Nile near Cairo and end in the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria. Leper considered it impossible to reach a particularly significant depth; its channel would have been unsuitable for deep-draft ships. Leper's commission estimated the costs of digging at 30-40 million francs. The project crashed not on technical or financial difficulties, but on political events; it was completed only at the end of 1800, when Napoleon was already in Europe and finally abandoned the hope of conquering Egypt. Accepting Leper's report on December 6, 1800, he said: “This is a great thing, but I am not able to carry it out at the present time; perhaps the Turkish government will someday take it up, create glory for itself and strengthen the existence of the Turkish Empire.

In the forties of the 19th century in 1841, British officers who carried out surveys on the isthmus proved the fallacy of Leper's calculations regarding the water level in the two seas - calculations that Laplace and the mathematician Fourier had already protested against on theoretical grounds. Around the same time, a French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps , without making new independent surveys, but relying only on the studies of his predecessors, he attacked the idea of \u200b\u200bdrawing a canal in a completely different way - so that it would be an “artificial Bosphorus” directly between the two seas, sufficient for the passage of the deepest ships.

Ferdinand de Lesseps

In 1855, Ferdinand de Lesseps obtained concessions from Said Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt, whom de Lesseps had met while a French diplomat in the 1830s. Said Pasha approved the creation of a company for the purpose of building a sea canal open to ships of all countries. In the same 1855, Lesseps achieved the approval of the firman from the Turkish Sultan, but only in 1859 was he able to establish a company in Paris. In the same year, the construction of the canal began, which was headed by the General Company of the Suez Canal created by Lesseps. The Egyptian government received 44% of all shares, France - 53% and 3% were acquired by other countries. Under the terms of the concession, shareholders were entitled to 74% of the profits, Egypt - 15%, the founders of the company - 10%. Its fixed capital was equal to 200 million francs.

The British government, fearing that the Suez Canal would lead to the liberation of Egypt from the rule of the Ottoman Empire and to the weakening or loss of England's dominance over India, placed all sorts of obstacles on the way to the implementation of the enterprise, but had to yield to the energy of Lesseps, especially since his enterprise was patronized by Napoleon III and Said Pasha, and then (since 1863) by his heir, Ismail Pasha.

19th century drawing of an auxiliary railway during the construction of the canal. Source: Appleton's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, 1869.

The technical difficulties were enormous. I had to work under the scorching sun, in a sandy desert, completely devoid of fresh water. At first, the company had to use up to 1,600 camels just to deliver water to workers; but by 1863 she had completed a small freshwater canal from the Nile, running in approximately the same direction as the ancient canals (the remains of which were somehow exploited), and intended not for navigation, but solely for the delivery of fresh water - first to workers, then and settlements that were supposed to arise along the canal. This freshwater channel runs from Zakazik near the Nile east to Ismailia, and from there southeast, along the sea channel, to Suez; channel width 17 m on the surface, 8 - along the bottom; its average depth is only 2.2 m, in some places even much less. His discovery facilitated the work, but still the death rate among the workers was high. The workers were provided by the Egyptian government, but European workers also had to be used (in total, from 20 to 40 thousand people worked on the construction).

The 200 million francs determined by Lesseps' original project soon ran out, especially as a result of the huge spending on bribery at the courts of Said and Ismail, on widespread advertising in Europe, on the costs of representing Lesseps himself and other bigwigs of the company. I had to make a new bond loan of 166,666,500 francs, then others, so that the total cost of the canal by 1872 reached 475 million (by 1892 - 576 million). In the six-year period in which Lesseps promised to complete the work, the canal was not built. Earthworks were carried out using forced labor of the poor in Egypt (in the early stages) and took 11 years.

The northern section was completed first through the swamp and Lake Manzala, then the flat section to Lake Timsakh. From here, the excavation went to two huge depressions - the long-dried Bitter Lakes, the bottom of which was 9 meters below sea level. After filling the lakes, the builders went to the end southern section.

The total length of the canal was about 173 km, including the length of the canal itself through the Isthmus of Suez 161 km, the sea canal along the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea - 9.2 km and the Gulf of Suez - about 3 km. The width of the channel along the water table is 120-150 m, along the bottom - 45-60 m. The depth along the fairway was initially 12-13 m, then it was deepened to 20 m.

Grand opening of the Suez Canal

The canal officially opened to navigation on November 17, 1869. The opening of the Suez Canal was attended by Empress Eugenia of France (wife of Napoleon III), Emperor of Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph I with the Minister-President of the Hungarian government Andrássy, a Dutch prince with a princess, a Prussian prince. Never before has Egypt known such celebrations and hosted so many distinguished European guests. The celebration lasted seven days and nights and cost Khedive Ismail 28 million gold francs. And only one item of the celebration program was not fulfilled: the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi did not have time to finish the opera Aida ordered for this occasion, the premiere of which was supposed to enrich the opening ceremony of the channel. Instead of the premiere in Port Said, a big festive ball was arranged.

One of the first travelers in the 19th century

Economic and strategic importance of the canal

The canal had an immediate and invaluable impact on world trade. Six months earlier, the First Transcontinental Railroad had been put into operation, and the whole world could now be circumnavigated in record time. The channel played an important role in the expansion and further colonization of Africa. Foreign debts forced Ismail Pasha, who replaced Said Pasha, to sell his share in the canal in 1875 in favor of Great Britain. The "General Suez Canal Company" essentially became an Anglo-French enterprise, Egypt was removed from both the management of the canal and the profits. England became the actual owner of the channel. This position was further strengthened after she occupied Egypt in 1882.

In 1888, an international convention was signed in Istanbul with the aim of creating a certain system designed to guarantee free navigation on the canal to all states.

Aluminum pontoons of the Turkish army on the Suez Canal in 1915

During the First and Second World Wars, navigation through the canal was actually regulated by Great Britain.

On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal. This led to the invasion of British, French and Israeli troops and the beginning of the week-long Suez War in 1956. The channel was partially destroyed, some of the ships were sunk, as a result, navigation was closed until April 24, 1957, until the channel was cleared with the help of the UN. UN peacekeeping forces were brought in to maintain the status of the Sinai Peninsula and the Suez Canal as neutral territories.

Suez War 1956

After the Six Day War in 1967, the canal was again closed. During the next Arab-Israeli war in 1973, the Egyptian army successfully crossed the canal; in the future, the Israeli army made a "retaliatory forcing". After the end of the war, the canal was cleared by the US Navy (ships of the USSR Navy participated in trawling approaches to the Canal in the Gulf of Suez) and opened for use on June 5, 1975.

The channel does not have locks due to the absence of a difference in sea level and elevations. The channel allows the passage of loaded ships with a displacement of up to 240,000 tons, a height of up to 68 meters and a width of up to 77.5 meters (under certain conditions). Some supertankers cannot pass through the canal, others can unload some of their weight onto ships belonging to the canal and load it back at the other end of the canal. The channel has one fairway and several sections for ships to pass. The depth of the channel is 20.1 m. In the future, it is planned to ensure the passage of supertankers with a draft of up to 22 meters.

According to 2009 data, about 10% of the world's maritime traffic passes through the channel. The passage through the canal takes about 14 hours. On average, 48 ships pass through the canal per day.

Channel Two (New Suez Canal)

In August 2014, construction began on a 72-kilometre-long parallel canal to allow for two-way traffic. Trial operation of the second stage of the canal began on July 25, 2015. The country's army actively participated in the construction. The population of Egypt participated in the financing.

On August 6, 2015, the grand opening ceremony of the new Suez Canal took place. The ceremony was attended, in particular, by the President of Egypt, Abdul-Fattah Al-Sisi, who arrived at the venue of the event on board the Al-Mahrusa yacht. This yacht gained fame as the first ship to pass in 1869 through the old Suez Canal.

Solemn opening ceremony of the new Suez Canal

Currently, the ship is part of the Egyptian Navy, being the country's oldest active naval vessel, and is sometimes used as a presidential yacht. The ship goes to sea about three times a year, but usually only for one day. The yacht was built in 1865.

"New Suez" runs parallel to the old shipping route, laid 145 years ago and is the shortest water route between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The new channel, like the old one, will be state property.

Scheme of the new route of the Suez Canal

It took only one year to build the Suez understudy (although it was estimated to have been built in three years). The project cost Egypt $8.5 billion. The project of the New Suez Canal consisted of widening and deepening the current tract and creating a parallel tract. The new channel should increase the capacity of the channel.

The purpose of the project is to ensure two-way traffic of ships. In the future, from south to north, they will follow the old, and from north to south along the new channel. Thus, the average waiting time of ships during the passage through the canal should be reduced by a factor of four, while its throughput will increase from 49 to 97 ships per day. The Suez Canal provides 7% of the world's maritime cargo turnover.

Since 1981, an automobile tunnel has been operating near the city of Suez, passing under the bottom of the Suez Canal, and connecting Sinai and continental Africa. In addition to the technical excellence that made it possible to create such a complex engineering project, this tunnel attracts with its monumentality, is of great strategic importance and is rightfully considered a landmark of Egypt.

In 1998, a power line was built over the canal in Suez. The line supports on both banks are 221 meters high and located 152 meters apart. On October 9, 2001, a new bridge them. Hosni Mubarak on the highway connecting the cities of Port Said and Ismailia. The opening ceremony of the bridge was attended by then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Before the opening of the viaduct Millau this structure was the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world. The height of the bridge is 70 meters. Construction lasted 4 years, one Japanese and two Egyptian construction companies took part in it.

Bridge "Mubarak"

In 2001, traffic was opened on the railway bridge El Ferdan 20 km north of the city of Ismailia. It is the longest swing bridge in the world, its two swing sections have a total length of 340 meters. The previous bridge was destroyed in 1967 during the Arab-Israeli conflict.

In Egypt, the grandiose "construction of the century" - the construction of an understudy of the Suez Canal - has been completed. Last Saturday, July 25, several container ships under the flags of different countries in test mode passed along the new 72-kilometer artery, laid parallel to the old canal bed. The official opening of the channel will take place on August 6 under the patronage of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and with the participation of high-ranking delegations from 50 states. Russian President Vladimir Putin was also invited to the ceremony.

Before:

After:

The speed with which the Suez-2 was dug and equipped is admirable - it took only a year against ten years in the 19th century to build the first stage. The backup channel will make it possible to dramatically increase the speed of passage of ships from Europe to the Indian Ocean and back from 49 to 97 ships. The ships will now move along two channels in the opposite direction: south to north along the old channel, and from north to south along the new channel. This will avoid congestion and reduce the passage time of the canal from 18 to 11 hours.

The project is expected to increase the income of the Egyptian treasury from the operation of the waterway from the current $5.3 billion to $13.2 billion a year. Indeed, even now, about 7% of the world's maritime cargo turnover passes through the "neck" of the Suez Canal, thanks to which the canal was Cairo's second source of foreign exchange income after tourism.

old and new channels

It should be especially noted that the new channel, like the previous one, will be state property. The construction was financed from internal sources. The Egyptian government issued a loan at 12% per annum, and large and small investors snapped up bonds within just eight days. The work was carried out around the clock with the large-scale participation of the engineering units of the Egyptian army.

Bridge clearance is impressive

By 2023, the Egyptian government expects to triple the revenue from the operation of a unique hydraulic structure by creating a logistics hub and industrial zones in the surrounding area. Along the banks of the waterway, on an area of 76,000 square kilometers, shipbuilding and ship repair yards, as well as container factories and car assembly shops will be built. It is planned to dig road and rail tunnels in the region of Ismailia and Port Said, which will connect the African part of the Land of the Pyramids with Sinai. All this will create about a million new jobs for the Egyptians.

As the director of the Suez Canal Operations Authority, Admiral Muhab Mamish, has already stated, this "will turn Egypt into one of the largest industrial centers in the world."

The Suez Canal is an artificial sea route in Egypt that separates Eurasia from Africa. For almost 150 years, it has been used for the shortest transportation of goods from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean.

It is very easy to find the Suez Canal on the map. It connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. On one side of the Suez Canal is the port city of Port Said (on the Mediterranean coast), and on the other - Suez (on the Red Sea coast). It "cuts" the narrowest part of the Isthmus of Suez.

Since 1956, the Suez Canal has been wholly owned by Egypt. Prior to that, it was owned by the General Organization of the Suez Canal, owned by France and England.

Dimensions

can be found in various sources various information about the length, width and depth of the Suez Canal. According to the latest data, its length, including the approach sections and the track, is approximately 193 kilometers. Throughout its length, the Suez Canal has an unequal width and depth. According to official information, at a depth of 11 meters, the width is 205-225 meters. In 2010, the maximum depth was 24 meters.

Price per pass

The rules and price of sailing are determined by Egypt. Its budget largely depends on the Suez Canal, because every year the profit from using this waterway is about five billion dollars. The passage through the Suez Canal is the most preferable for ship owners, since when using an alternative route that goes around Africa, the distance increases by 8 thousand kilometers, respectively, there is a large loss of time. In addition, there is a chance to run into Somali pirates. The cost of passage through the canal depends on the weight of the cargo, the draft of the vessel, the height of the cargo on the deck, the date of application and other factors, and is 8-12 dollars per ton. The total cost of passing a ship with a large load can reach a million dollars.

The role of the channel in the life of Egypt

The Suez Canal is of great importance for the global cargo transportation market. About 20% of all transported oil is transported through it and about 10% of all world trade cargo transportation is carried out. In addition, tourists from all over the world come to see and take photos of the Suez Canal, which also helps to increase the budget of Egypt.

Modernization of the Suez Canal

After the Suez Canal began to belong to Egypt, the government began to consider its expansion as one of its main tasks, because its original depth was 8 meters and its width was 21 meters.

Now the government plans to create a new channel, which will run next to the main one. Its length will be 72 kilometers. This will allow you to extract even more profit due to the increase in the throughput of the channel. The expansion should reduce the waiting time to pass the track to three hours (now it is 11 hours) and triple the number of ships simultaneously passing through the canal. In addition, there will be a huge number of new jobs. The expansion is planned to spend several billion dollars.

workarounds

Due to the high cost of passage, transport ship owners are looking for alternative ways to transport goods. The Israeli government offered to build a bypass route through its territory. This is the so-called “shunting” of the channel. However, this route cannot be made completely by water, so there are plans to build a railway line between the city of Eilat and the Mediterranean coast.

Rosatomflot has also proposed replacing the Suez Canal. Presumably, the Northern Sea Route, which connects Europe with Asia, can be used as a replacement. Due to the melting of the Arctic ice, this route has been open for a longer time and, perhaps, in the near future, it will be possible to transport goods through Russia.

Construction history

The idea of laying the shortest route to the waters of the Red Sea visited the inhabitants of Egypt many centuries ago. The first attempts were made by the Theban pharaohs during the era of the Middle Kingdom. They wanted to connect the Red Sea with one of the tributaries of the Nile.

The history of the creation of the canal itself began at the end of the 7th - beginning of the 6th century BC. Evidence of Herodotus was found, which says that Pharaoh Necho II began the construction, but Darius I built the canal to the end a century later. After that, things didn't go very well. The reconstruction of the path took place in the III century BC under the leadership of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The canal was deepened several centuries later by order of Emperor Trajan, during his reign in Africa. In the VIII century (during the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs), despite the fact that this transport route was actively used, it was covered up.

In 1854, French businessman Ferdinand de Lesseps decides to reopen the history of the Suez Canal. Since at that moment France had a lot of influence in Egypt, he was allowed to start this process. Construction work started in 1859, the canal was opened 10 years later. A large number of Egyptians were involved in forced labor, many people died from hard labor, dehydration and disease.

As a result of the construction, the country's economy was seriously affected, which forced Ismail Pasha to sell his part of the shares of the World Organization of the Suez Canal to the British. In 1882, a British military base was located in this place.

Construction of the Suez Canal.

Drawing of the Suez Canal (1881)

Maybe, back in the days of the Twelfth Dynasty, pharaoh Senusret III (BC - BC) laid from west to east a canal dug through Wadi Tumilat connecting the Nile to the Red Sea, for unhindered trade with Punt.

Later, the powerful Egyptian pharaohs Ramses II and Necho II were engaged in the construction and restoration of the canal.

Herodotus (II. 158) writes that Necho (609-594) began to build a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, but did not finish it.

In the III century BC. e. the canal was brought into a navigable state by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247). He is mentioned by Diodorus (I. 33. 11-12) and Strabo (XVII. 1. 25), he is mentioned in an inscription on a stele from Pythomas (16th year of the reign of Ptolemy). It began a little higher up the Nile than the former channel, in the area of Facussa. It is possible, however, that under Ptolemy the old canal was cleared, deepened and extended to the sea, supplying the lands of Wadi Tumilat with fresh water. The fairway was wide enough - two triremes could freely disperse in it.

Its fixed capital was equal to 200 million francs (all the costs of the enterprise were calculated by Lesseps in this amount), divided into 400 thousand shares of 500 francs each; Said Pasha subscribed to a significant part of them. The English government, and Palmerston at its head, fearing that the Suez Canal would lead to the liberation of Egypt from Turkish rule and to the weakening or loss of England's dominance over India, placed all sorts of obstacles in the way of carrying out the enterprise, but had to yield to the energy of Lesseps , especially since Napoleon III and Said Pasha patronized his enterprise, and then (since 1863) his heir, Ismail Pasha.

The technical difficulties were enormous. I had to work under the scorching sun, in a sandy desert, completely devoid of fresh water. At first, the company had to use up to 1,600 camels just to deliver water to workers; but by 1863 she had completed a small freshwater canal from the Nile, running in approximately the same direction as the ancient canals (the remains of which were somehow exploited), and intended not for navigation, but solely for the delivery of fresh water - first to workers, then and settlements that were supposed to arise along the canal. This freshwater channel runs from Zakazik near the Nile east to Ismailia, and from there southeast, along the sea channel, to Suez; channel width 17 m on the surface, 8 - along the bottom; its depth is on average only 2¼ m, in some places even much less. His discovery facilitated the work, but still the death rate among the workers was high. The workers were provided by the Egyptian government, but European workers also had to be used (in total, from 20 to 40 thousand people worked on the construction).

The 200 million francs determined by Lesseps' original project soon ran out, especially as a result of the huge spending on bribery at the courts of Said and Ismail, on widespread advertising in Europe, on the costs of representing Lesseps himself and other bigwigs of the company. I had to make a new bond loan of 166,666,500 francs, then others, so that the total cost of the canal by 1872 reached 475 million (by 1892 - 576 million). In the six-year period in which Lesseps promised to complete the work, the canal was not built. The earthworks were carried out using the forced labor of the poor in Egypt (in the early stages) and took 11 years.

The canal officially opened to navigation on November 17, 1869. On the occasion of the opening of the canal, the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi was commissioned for the opera Aida, the first production of which took place on December 24, 1871 at the Cairo Opera House.

One of the first travelers in the 19th century.

Economic and strategic importance of the canal

The canal had an immediate and invaluable impact on world trade. Six months earlier, the First Transcontinental Railway, and the whole world could now be circumnavigated in record time. The channel played an important role in the expansion and further colonization of Africa. Foreign debts forced Ismail Pasha, who succeeded Said Pasha, to sell his stake in the canal in 1875 in favor of Great Britain. The "General Suez Canal Company" essentially became an Anglo-French enterprise, Egypt was removed from both the management of the canal and the profits. England became the actual owner of the channel. This position was further strengthened after she occupied Egypt in 1882.

present tense

The Egyptian Administration of the Suez Canal (Suez Canal Authority, SCA) reported that in 2009, 17,155 ships passed through the canal, which is 20% less than in (21,170 ships). For the Egyptian budget, this meant a reduction in revenue from the operation of the canal from 5.38 billion US dollars in pre-crisis 2008 to 4.29 billion US dollars in 2009.

According to Ahmad Fadel, the head of the Canal Administration, 17,799 ships passed through the Suez Canal in 2011, down 1.1 percent from a year earlier. At the same time, the Egyptian authorities earned $5.22 billion from the transit of ships ($456 million more than in 2010).

In December 2011, the Egyptian authorities announced that tariffs for the transit of goods, which have not changed over the past three years, will increase by three percent from March 2012.

According to 2009 data, about 10% of the world's maritime traffic passes through the channel. The passage through the canal takes about 14 hours. On average, 48 vessels pass through the canal per day.

Connection between shores

Since April 1980, an automobile tunnel has been operating near the city of Suez, passing under the bottom of the Suez Canal, and connecting Sinai and continental Africa. In addition to the technical excellence that made it possible to create such a complex engineering project, this tunnel attracts with its monumentality, is of great strategic importance and is rightfully considered a landmark of Egypt.

The opening of the Suez Canal was attended by Empress Eugenia of France (wife of Napoleon III), Emperor of Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph I with the Minister-President of the Hungarian government Andrássy, a Dutch prince with a princess, a Prussian prince. Never before has Egypt known such celebrations and hosted so many distinguished European guests. The celebration lasted seven days and nights and cost Khedive Ismail 28 million gold francs. And only one item of the celebration program was not fulfilled: the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi did not have time to finish the opera Aida ordered for this occasion, the premiere of which was supposed to enrich the opening ceremony of the channel. Instead of the premiere, a large celebratory ball was arranged in Port Said.

Notes

Literature

Dementiev I. A. Suez Canal / Ed. acad. L. N. Ivanova. - Ed. 2nd. - M .: Geografgiz, 1954. - 72 p. - (At the map of the world). - 50,000 copies.(reg.) (1st ed. - M.: Geografgiz, 1952. 40 p.)