The Suez Canal connects the sea with the Atlantic Ocean. Erie Canal - New York. Royal Canal – Ireland

The Suez Canal is very unique. The water in it is level with the level of the shore, so the canal gives the impression of a gigantic ditch filled to the brim. It seems that the slightest wave - and the water will splash out over the edge onto the coastal sand. It is very interesting to watch large ocean ships passing through the canal: it seems that they are walking straight through the desert...
The idea of digging a cable across the Isthmus of Suez arose in ancient times. Ancient historians, in particular Strabo and Pliny the Elder, report that the Theban pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom era tried to build a canal connecting the right branch of the Nile with the Red Sea. The first reliable historical evidence of the connection of the Mediterranean and Red Seas by a canal dates back to the reign of Pharaoh Necho II (late 7th - early 6th century BC).

The expansion and improvement of the canal was carried out by order of the Persian king Darius I, who conquered Egypt, and subsequently by Ptolemy Philadelphus (first half of the 3rd century BC). However, in 767, the cable system connecting the Nile with the Red Sea was destroyed by order of the Arab caliph al-Mansur. Since then, no work has been carried out to restore this ancient trade route.
The prerequisites for implementing a technically complex and labor-intensive project appeared only in modern times. The construction of the Suez Canal is associated with the name of Ferdinand de Lecceps, the French consul in Alexandria in 1832-1833. and consul in Cairo in 1833-1837. Having conceived this grandiose enterprise, Lesseps established friendly contacts with the Khedive of Egypt, Muhammad Ali. However, Lesseps was never able to convince either Ali or his successor, Khedive Abbas I, of the need to build a canal. However, in the end, Lesseps’s perseverance was rewarded: on November 30, 1854, he received the desired firman from the hands of Abbas I’s successor, Khedive Said ( decree) granting him a concession for the construction of the Suez Canal. At the same time, Lesseps himself was named in the text of the firman with the words “our friend.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Egypt provided the General Company of the Suez Maritime Cable, headed by Lesseps, with the right to build and operate the cable for a period of 99 years. At the same time, 75% of the income from operation went to the General Company, 15% to the Egyptian government, and 10% to the founders of the company. For 10 years the company was completely exempt from paying taxes. and then obliged to pay only 10% of taxes.
The company's initial capital was 200 million francs, divided into 400 thousand shares of 500 francs each. The largest number of shares was acquired by France -207,111. England, Austria. Russia and the United States did not purchase a single share, but they were left with 85,506 shares. In order to support the company, Khedive Said bought the remaining 177,642 shares, thus concentrating almost 44% of all shares in his hands.

French contractors Linnan de Bellefond and Mougel drew up the technical design for the Suez Canal route. Its laying took place on April 25, 1859. On this day, Lesseps and members of the Company Council arrived at the place where the city of Port Said, named after Khedive Said, soon grew. After a short speech dedicated to the significant event, Lesseps personally drew the first furrow along the line that marked the contour of the canal.
From 20 to 40 thousand workers were simultaneously employed in the construction of the canal. Lesseps was able to provide construction with labor only by getting Khedive Said to issue a firman on the forced mobilization of peasants. Village elders were ordered to round up residents of nearby villages for construction. Due to unbearable working conditions during the construction of the Suez Canal, according to some estimates, up to 120 thousand Egyptians died.

During the first period of excavation, almost everything was done by hand. The loose soil did not allow soil to be transported in wheelbarrows, and it was often necessary to lift the wheelbarrow and carry it by hand to the unloading site. The difficulties were compounded by the fact that the area chosen for the rope was damp and swampy. Even a shallow trench dug to mark the bed of the future canal was filled with water within an hour. Then the workers lined up in a chain across the constantly deepening riverbed, from one bank to the other. Tem. whoever was in the center, the water reached the waist. Having lifted a lump of earth from the bottom of the trench with a shovel, they passed it along the entire chain. At the edge, the earth was put into canvas bags. Having filled the bag, the worker climbed up the slope and dumped the earth there.
Only at the final stage of construction were steam engines used. The huge volume of excavation work required the improvement of earth-moving equipment. In particular, gigantic dredgers, conveyors, excavators, and cargo longboats with lifting devices were created specifically for the construction of the Suez Canal. In 1863, mechanical repair shops were opened in Port Said.

The final cost of the canal was 560 million francs, i.e. almost tripled the original estimates. At the same time, Egypt assumed more than 60% of the financial costs.
In March 1869, the waters of the Mediterranean Sea poured into the Bitter Lakes lying on the canal route, and six months later, on November 15, the grand opening of the canal took place.
Numerous Turkish, Egyptian, Austrian, French, Russian, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Spanish frigates, yachts, mail and passenger ships lined up in the harbor of Port Said on both sides of the wide four hundred meter canal. The fresh sea breeze fluttered colorful flags and pennants. Music thundered, the air trembled with the roar of fireworks. The opening of the canal was attended by the French Empress Eugenie, Prince Murat, Viceroy of Egypt Khedive Ismail, Emperor of Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph, Crown Prince of Prussia, Prince Henry of the Netherlands, Prince Ludwig of Hesse, General Banquo - Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate , leader of the Sahrawi Rif Republic Abdel Kader, ambassadors of a number of European powers, including the Russian ambassador in Constantinople N.P. Ignatiev, who arrived in Port Said on the Yakhont clipper. Among the guests of honor invited to the opening ceremony of the Suez Canal were the directors of the Russian Society of Shipping and Trade (ROPiT) N.M. Chikhachev and N.N. Sushchev, as well as the artist I.K. Aivazovsky and writer V.A. Sollogub.

There were legends about the pomp with which the opening ceremony of the Suez Canal was arranged. Composer Giuseppe Verdi was commissioned especially for the festivities to perform an opera on an Egyptian theme, “Aida.” However, Verdi did not have time to finish the opera (he completed work on it only in 1871), and in the Cairo Opera House, the construction of which was also dedicated to this occasion, Il Trovatore was staged instead.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon on November 16, all the invitees gathered on the shore. Behind the flower-decorated triumphal arch, there was a view of three luxurious pavilions built on a sandbank. The middle one was intended for guests of honor; on the left there was a blue pavilion for Christian services, on the right there was a green pavilion for Muslim services. After the ceremonial speeches, a parade of Khedive Ismail's guards took place, and in the evening a large fireworks display was arranged. The people rejoiced. Only the main hero of the occasion, Lesseps, was tearing out his hair in despair: they had just brought him an emergency telegram: “Everything is lost - the steamer, making a test passage along the canal, ran aground.”

The meeting went on all night. It turned out that in a terrible hurry they did not have time to complete the work on deepening the main channel of the canal, and instead of the envisaged 8 m depth in many places it turned out to be much less. This jeopardized the passage of ships with deep draft. Most of the meeting participants were inclined to postpone the opening ceremony. And at this critical moment, only Lesseps was able to keep his cool. At his insistence, a strong-willed decision was made: to open the rope and let some ships of small displacement through.
At 8:15 a.m. on November 17, the yacht of the French Empress “Aigle” moved across the rope. Behind it is the frigate of the British ambassador, and then a string of various ships. The fairway was marked with red buoys. At about 8 o'clock in the evening, not far from Ismailia, the caravan had to anchor: the steamship Pelusium ran aground and blocked the path for the rest of the ships. Then new complications arose: it turned out that in several places the rope was almost twice as small as the planned 8 m. Nevertheless, the first 48 ships passed through the Suez Canal.

Within a few years after the opening of the canal, it became clear that its construction had revolutionized international shipping. The exceptionally favorable geographical position of the canal has led to a significant reduction in the distance between Europe and the eastern countries. In particular, the route from Trieste to Bombay is 37 days shorter, from Genoa - by 32, from Marseille - by 31, from Bordeaux, London or Hamburg - by 24. Compared to the roundabout route around Africa, the Suez Canal provides fuel savings of 25 to 50%. Today, 15% of world trade is carried through the cable, 97% of all dry cargo ships in the world and 27% of all oil tankers pass through it. Thanks to the cable, the eastern Mediterranean became one of the busiest areas of international trade.
The eight-year inactivity of the rope (1967-1975) caused damage to world trade, which is estimated at approximately 12-15 billion dollars. Navigation along the Suez Cable resumed on June 5, 1975. This was preceded by a lengthy clearing of mines from the canal.

Currently, three caravans of 60-80 ships pass along the Suez cable every day. Revenues from the operation of the canal constitute one of the main profitable items in the Egyptian national budget. The number of ships passing along the rope is constantly growing, since this sea route continues to be cheaper than the route around the Cape of Good Hope.
In 1978-1985 the rope has been modernized. Its width was increased by 1.5 times and the fairway was deepened by approximately 45%. Currently, the rope can accommodate ships with a draft of up to 53 feet and a displacement of up to 150 thousand tons, constituting about 50% of the world's merchant fleet, as well as tankers with a displacement of up to 270 thousand tons with a full load.
On October 25, 1980, traffic was opened along the road tunnel running under the Suez Cable. Ahmed Hamdi, named after the Egyptian general who died during the 1973 war. This tunnel is located 17 km north of Suez. Its length is 1640 m.

Suez Canal

Suez Canal- a lockless shipping canal in Egypt connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The canal zone is considered a conditional border between 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 shipping November 17, 1869. Main ports: Port Said And Suez.

Suez Canal on the map and view from space

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

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

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.

The current on the channel in the winter months comes from the bitter lakes to the north, and in the summer back from the Mediterranean Sea. South of the lakes, the current varies with 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 Suez Canal Administration, revenues from its operation in 2010 amounted to $4.5 billion. The United States, making it the second largest source of revenue for Egypt's budget after tourism, which brought in $13 billion. In 2011, revenues already amounted to $5.22 billion, with 17,799 ships passing through the canal, which is 1.1 percent less than the previous year.

Story

Perhaps as early as the Twelfth Dynasty, Pharaoh Senusret III (1888-1878 BC) built 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 construction and restoration of the canal was carried out by the powerful Egyptian pharaohs Ramses II and Necho II. 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 the First, 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 3rd century BC. e. The canal was made navigable by Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-247). It began slightly higher up the Nile than the previous canal, in the area of Facussa. It is possible, however, that under Ptolemy the old canal, which supplied the lands of Wadi Tumilat with fresh water, was cleared, deepened and extended to the sea. The fairway was wide enough - two triremes could easily separate in it.

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

In 776, by order of Caliph Mansur, it was finally filled up so as not to divert trade routes from the center of the Caliphate.

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

Channel restoration

More than a thousand years passed before the next attempt to dig a canal. In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte, while in Egypt, considered the possibility of building a canal connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. He entrusted the preliminary research to a special commission headed by engineer Leper. The commission erroneously concluded that the water level of the Red Sea is 9.9 m higher than the water level in the Mediterranean Sea, which would not allow the construction of a canal 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 be unsuitable for deep-draft vessels. The Leper Commission estimated the cost of digging at 30-40 million francs. The project failed not because of technical or financial difficulties, but because of 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, thereby creating glory for itself and strengthening the existence of the Turkish Empire.”

In the forties of the 19th century, 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 previously protested against, based on theoretical considerations. Around the same time, a French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps , without carrying out new independent research, but relying only on the research of his predecessors, he came up with the idea of constructing a canal completely differently - 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 received concessions from Said Pasha, the Viceroy of Egypt, whom de Lesseps had met as a French diplomat in the 1830s. Said Pasha approved the creation of a company for the purpose of constructing 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 found a company in Paris. In the same year, construction of the canal began, led by the General Suez Canal Company 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 profits, Egypt - 15%, and the company's founders - 10%. Its fixed capital was 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, put all sorts of obstacles in the way 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 (from 1863) by his heir, Ismail Pasha.

19th century drawing depicting the 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, which ran approximately in the same direction as the ancient canals (the remains of which were used in some places), and was intended not for navigation, but solely for the delivery of fresh water - first to workers, then and the settlements that were to arise along the canal. This freshwater canal runs from Zakazik on the Nile east to Ismailia, and from there southeast, along the sea canal, to Suez; channel width 17 m on the surface, 8 at the bottom; its depth on average is only 2.2 m, in some places even much less. Its discovery made the work easier, but still the mortality rate among workers was high. 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 construction).

The 200 million francs determined according to Lesseps's original project soon ran out, especially due to the enormous expenses 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. It was necessary to make a new bond issue 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, it was not possible to build the canal. The excavation work was carried out using forced labor from the poor in Egypt (in the first stages) and took 11 years.

The northern section through the swamp and Lake Manzala was completed first, then the flat section to Lake Timsah. 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 moved to the end southern section.

The total length of the canal was about 173 km, including the length of the canal itself across 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 surface 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 the Empress of France Eugenie (wife of Napoleon III), the Emperor of Austria-Hungary Franz Joseph I with the Minister-President of the Hungarian government Andrássy, the Dutch prince and princess, and the Prussian prince. Never before has Egypt known such celebrations and received so many distinguished European guests. The celebration lasted seven days and nights and cost Khedive Ismail 28 million gold francs. And only one point of the celebration program was not fulfilled: the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi did not have time to finish the opera “Aida” commissioned for this occasion, the premiere of which was supposed to enrich the opening ceremony of the channel. Instead of the premiere, a large gala ball was held in Port Said.

Some 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 entire world could now be circumnavigated in record time. The canal played an important role in the expansion and further colonization of Africa. External debts forced Ismail Pasha, who replaced Said Pasha, to sell his share in the canal to Great Britain in 1875. The General Suez Canal Company essentially became an Anglo-French enterprise, and Egypt was excluded from both the management of the canal and the profits. England became the actual owner of the canal. This position was further strengthened after it occupied Egypt in 1882.

In 1888, an International Convention was signed in Istanbul with the aim of creating a specific system designed to guarantee free navigation through the canal to all states.

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

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

On July 26, 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the channel. This led to the invasion of British, French and Israeli troops and the start of the week-long Suez War in 1956. The canal was partially destroyed, some ships were sunk, and as a result, shipping was closed until April 24, 1957, until the canal 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 of 1967, the canal was closed again. During the next Arab-Israeli War in 1973, the Egyptian army successfully crossed the canal; Subsequently, the Israeli army carried out a “response force.” After the end of the war, the canal was cleared by the US Navy (USSR Navy ships took part in trawling the approaches to the Canal in the Gulf of Suez) and opened for use on June 5, 1975.

The canal does not have locks due to the lack of sea level differences and elevations. The canal 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 canal vessels and load it back at the other end of the canal. The canal has one fairway and several areas for ships to diverge. The depth of the channel is 20.1 m. In the future, it is planned to provide passage for supertankers with a draft of up to 22 meters.

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

Second Canal (New Suez Canal)

Construction of a 72-kilometer parallel canal began in August 2014 to allow two-way traffic for ships. 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 opening ceremony of the new Suez Canal took place. The ceremony was attended, in particular, by Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi, who arrived at the event site on board the Al-Mahrousa yacht. This yacht gained fame as the first ship to pass through the old Suez Canal in 1869.

Opening ceremony of the new Suez Canal

The vessel is currently 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, built 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 Suez Canal route

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

The goal of the project is to ensure two-way traffic of vessels. In the future, from south to north they will follow the old channel, and from north to south along the new channel. Thus, the average waiting time for ships during passage through the canal should decrease by four times, while its throughput will increase from 49 to 97 ships per day. The Suez Canal accounts for 7% of global maritime traffic.

Since 1981, a road tunnel has been operating near the city of Suez, passing under the bottom of the Suez Canal, 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 transmission line was built over the canal in Suez. The line supports, standing on both banks, have a height of 221 meters and are located 152 meters from each other. On October 9, 2001, a new bridge named after 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 viaduct opened Milhaud this structure was the world's tallest cable-stayed bridge. The height of the bridge is 70 meters. Construction lasted 4 years, and one Japanese and two Egyptian construction companies took part in it.

Mubarak Bridge

In 2001, traffic on the railway bridge was opened El Ferdan 20 km north of the city of Ismailia. This 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.

Suez Canal- a navigable lockless sea canal in the northeast of Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The Suez Canal is the shortest waterway between the ports of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans (8-15 thousand km less than the route around Africa).

The Suez Canal Zone is considered a conditional border between two continents: Asia and Africa. The main ports of entry are Port Said from the Mediterranean Sea and Suez from the Red Sea. The Suez Canal runs along the Isthmus of Suez in its lowest and narrowest part, crossing a series of lakes and the Menzala Lagoon.

The idea of digging a canal across the Isthmus of Suez arose in ancient times. Ancient historians report that the Theban pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom era tried to build a canal connecting the right branch of the Nile with the Red Sea.

The first reliable historical evidence of the connection of the Mediterranean and Red Seas by a canal dates back to the reign of Pharaoh Necho II (late 7th - early 6th century BC).

However, after the Arab conquest of Egypt, the canal was restored again in 642, but was filled in in 776 to channel trade through the main areas of the caliphate.

Plans for the restoration of the canal, developed later (in 1569 by order of the vizier of the Ottoman Empire Mehmed Sokollu and by the French during Bonaparte's Egyptian expedition in 1798-1801), were not implemented.

The idea of building the Suez Canal arose again in the second half of the 19th century. The world during this period was experiencing the era of colonial division. North Africa, the part of the continent closest to Europe, attracted the attention of the leading colonial powers - France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain. Egypt was the subject of rivalry between Britain and France.

The nationalization of the canal served as a pretext for the Anglo-Franco-Israeli aggression against Egypt at the end of October 1956. The Suez Canal suffered significant damage, traffic along it was interrupted and resumed only on April 24, 1957, after the completion of the canal cleaning work.

As a result of the Arab-Israeli "Six Day War" of 1967, navigation through the Suez Canal was again interrupted, as the canal zone actually turned into a front line separating Egyptian and Israeli troops, and during the October 1973 war, into an area of active military operations.

The annual damage caused by inaction to the Suez Canal was estimated at 4-5 billion dollars.

In 1974, after the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Suez Canal zone, Egypt began clearing, restoring and reconstructing the canal. On June 5, 1975, the Suez Canal was reopened to navigation.

In 1981, the first stage of the canal reconstruction project was completed, which made it possible to carry through it tankers with a deadweight of up to 150 thousand tons (on completion of the second stage - up to 250 thousand tons) and cargo ships with a deadweight of up to 370 thousand tons.

In 2005, a new reconstruction of the Suez Canal began. The reconstruction plan includes deepening the channel, which will allow more than 90% of the existing international merchant fleet to pass through the canal. Since 2010, supertankers with a displacement of up to 360 thousand tons will be able to navigate the canal. Today, the length of the canal itself is 162.25 km, with sea approaches from Port Said to Port Taufiq - 190.25 km. Width at a depth of 11 meters is 200-210 m. Depth along the fairway is 22.5 m.

A modern symbol of the United States, the Statue of Liberty was originally planned to be installed in Port Said under the name “The Light Of Asia,” but the then government of the country decided that transporting the structure from France and installing it was too expensive for the state.

Currently, about 10% of all global maritime transport occurs through the Suez Canal. On average, 48 ships pass through the Suez Canal per day, and the average transit time through the canal is about 14 hours.

According to existing rules, ships from all countries that are not at war with Egypt can pass through Suez. Operating rules prohibit the appearance of only ships with nuclear power plants.

Today, the Suez Canal is the main budget-generating project in Egypt. According to some experts, the canal provides the country with more funds than oil production, and much more than the rapidly developing tourism infrastructure allows today.

The operation of the canal is one of the main sources of foreign exchange earnings for the Egyptian treasury. According to some experts, the canal provides the country with more funds than oil production, and much more than the rapidly developing tourism infrastructure.

The canal's monthly toll is $372 million.

In the 2007-2008 fiscal year, the Suez Canal brought Egypt more than $5 billion, which was a record in the history of the canal.

In the 2008-2009 fiscal year, shipping traffic on the Suez Canal fell by 8.2%, and Egypt's revenue from operating the canal fell by 7.2%. Experts explain this by the consequences of the global financial crisis, as well as by the actions of pirates off the coast of Somalia.

beggars.

In general, of course, it is interesting to look at Egypt, its local beauty and exoticism. Go through the Suez Canal at least once. Will be remembered for the rest of my life. You can, if time permits, go out into the city. But it’s not a fact that you will fight off beggars. For Egyptians, a white man is, at the very least, an object for divorce. True, one compatriot mechanic worked with me, a good person, a jokester and a lover of storytelling. So, because of his dark skin color, he was mistaken for a representative of the local intelligentsia, and they walked with him through the streets of Port Said and no one bothered him. Still, the attitude of some representatives of the indigenous population is simply disgusting. But this is purely my personal opinion. Sailor. Maybe you will get a different impression from what you saw in Egypt. Tell me later...

Probably every sailor who works for a foreign uncle has at least once in his life had the opportunity to transit the Suez Canal - one of the most important artificial waterways in the world, which crosses the Isthmus of Suez, stretching from Port Said (on the Mediterranean Sea) to the Gulf of Suez (on the Red Sea). sea). It is, of course, more convenient for a ship to go through the 168-kilometer Suez Canal than to go around the whole of Africa around the Cape of Good Hope on the way, for example, from Europe to India. And there is much less time and significant savings in fuel. I've been through the Suez Canal four times in my short maritime career. And all these times I really didn’t like this event. Why? This is where I will try to explain what transit of the Suez Canal is, about the Egyptian flavor, annoying traders and arrogant pilots.

Let's go back a little to history. Who even came up with this man-made miracle and thanks to whom modern Egyptians are so happy.

And they are happy thanks to one smart Frenchman, Ferdinand de Lesseps, his country’s consul in Egypt, who in 1854 received from the ruler of Egypt a concession to create the General Suez Canal Company. Construction work began in April 1859. The opening of navigation along the canal took place on November 17, 1869. A lot of money was spent on its construction. The canal was deepened several times and at present its length is 168 km, the width of the water surface of the canal in some places reaches 169 m, and its depth is such that ships with a draft of more than 16 m can pass through it. After the construction of the canal, 99 years later, ownership is complete passed to the state of Egypt.

At the moment, fees from ships for transit through the Suez Canal make up the lion's share of the budget of this Arab republic. Apparently, if there were no canal, Egypt would be sitting in deep dope with its tourism, pyramids and half-fainting camels.

For many sailors, including me, transit through the Suez Canal is natural. And all because of the local Arabic flavor. I'll try to explain. Before arriving in Egypt, a detailed briefing is carried out on the ship, during which all crew members from the captain to the messenger are given clear instructions and instructions. For example: all doors, cabins, storerooms, painting rooms, entrances to holds and other ship premises must be locked. There is only one entrance to the add-on. All additional ends, tools, metal, wood and similar easily removed goods are removed from the deck. All this is done in order to minimize the theft of ship property and unauthorized entry of local aborigines into the ship’s superstructure.

Well, imagine such a case that took place. The ship is at anchor, and the mechanic is sleeping in his cabin after his watch, and he dreams of a house and daisies. And then, suddenly, in his sleep, he realizes that he is not alone in the cabin; moreover, a slight rustling and snoring can be heard. He opens his eyes, and in front of him in the darkness appears the unwashed face of an Egyptian-Arab with an annoying request in broken Russian: “Drukh, give me something.” Gift, gift. Mila, cigarettes, etc.” The sleepy comrade was taken aback by such impudence, but still gave him his old socks, just so that he would fall behind, and then let’s check his personal belongings for the presence of them. Egyptians are creepy and arrogant beggars. They can be so annoying with their requests that sailors sometimes want, at a minimum, to seal their mouths with superglue.

Anchoring, regardless of where it takes place, either in Port Said or in the roadstead of the port of Suez, is a real battle for ship property. The ship has not yet had time to drop anchor, the captain has not yet given orders, and boats and boats of local Arab traders are already swarming around. Many of them shout in Russian: “Hey chief, chief, leather jackets, jeans, buy them!” or “Is there metal, paint? I give you a great exchange!” Oriental bazaar with delivery. They sell all kinds of consumer goods: clothes, leather goods, sweets, watches, and the most “real” Rolex for 20 dollars :) Souvenirs occupy a special place: papyri, figurines, boxes, rings, hookahs.

Prices are high. But as the time of transit approaches and traders inevitably abandon the ship, prices decrease significantly. I happened to buy a suitcase for travel at a starting price of 70 bucks, for 25 by the end of the anchorage. The main thing is patience. There is also such a thing as barter: you give me, for example, a can of ship paint, and I will give you real papyrus, on which Ramses II wrote love letters to his girlfriend.

But there is this type of traders - inveterate and arrogant Arabs. If the freeboard allows, they jump over the rails and begin to run across the entire deck, pulling closed doors, trying to open something, get into something, get something and drag it away. Screams, hubbub, the crew are nervously running after these descendants of the pharaohs, trying to somehow influence them and send them back to their vessels, because the ship in this particular case is not a place for international communication and friendship. Savages. Particularly chic among them is considered to be breaking into the superstructure. Shouting “Yes, I’m a ship’s agent!” I urgently need a captain and blah blah blah” storms the watch cordon. Go figure out who is an agent and who is not. If there are fifty Arabs on a ship and all of them are ship “agents”. And everyone has documents in Arabic, a photograph with a smile and a serious seal. There were incidents where the police were called to calm down the local gang. Everything happened. You can, of course, forget about normal work.

The transit itself begins with a visit to the ship by several inspectors from the local port administration. One of whom is definitely a doctor. This subject inspects the ship's hospital and documentation. Issues permission for transit, saying there are no patients, leprosy, plague, swine flu have not been detected. The rest of the inspectors, wrinkling their brows, pretend smartly that they are looking for yesterday on the ship. But doctors and other comrades are very fond of gifts in the form of Marlboro cigarettes, Pepsi, cola and other carbonated chemicals. Without gifts, as a rule, they are indignant and do not leave. And they behave as if everyone owes them. And God forbid if the ship reached Israel before Egypt. In this case, the checks will be much more severe and meticulous. And you can't get away with cigarettes.

All this time, while the ship's inspectors, inspectors, real ship agent and associates are accepting fuel and supplies, the trade in junk and the crew's struggle for the ship's property does not stop.

Then He arrives. On a white boat. Tsar and God. The Most Important Egyptian Pilot. Very important, with ambition and shoulder straps. From the gangway demanding cigarette blocks and coffee cans. Because this is the tradition and local rules. Brad, of course.

And after some time, his retinue arrives, which consists of one electrician, who is needed to ensure the operation of the bow searchlight in case of canal transit at night, and two mooring men. The electrician comes with his own spotlight, even if there is a ship's one in accordance with all the requirements. After all, you can still demand additional cigarettes and soda for yours. And the brave moorers come in company with their own boat, which will later be needed to supply moorings to the shore in case of mooring during transit. These are the requirements of the channel.

The arrival of a pilot is a signal for traders to curtail trade and look for a new victim. But if you think that the market ends here, then it is not so. After all, the brave electrician and mooring men also came to the ship with their bazaar. But they are, of course, more civilized than others. They don’t run around the ship like mental hospital patients and don’t try to get into places they shouldn’t—they just beg. Soap, cigarettes, food, tea, food again, tea again. And so on until the end of the transit. The ship's cook usually sharpens the hatchet after an hour of “communication.”

At the exit from the canal you can see several burnt ships.

Sailors have been using man-made canals since Mesopotamian times. Let's take a look together at 5 famous historical canals located around the world.

Panama Canal – Panama

Construction of the canal began in 1904 and was completed in 1914.
Total length: 77 km (48 miles).
Connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
Cost: $375 million.

The Panama Canal is a shipping canal connecting the Pacific Gulf of Panama with the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, located on the Isthmus of Panama in the state of Panama. Length - 81.6 km, including 65.2 km on land and 16.4 km along the bottom of the Panama and Limon bays (for the passage of ships to deep water).

The construction of the Panama Canal was one of the largest and most complex construction projects undertaken by mankind. The Panama Canal had an invaluable influence on the development of shipping and the economy as a whole in the Western Hemisphere and throughout the Earth, which determined its extremely high geopolitical significance. Thanks to the Panama Canal, the sea route from New York to San Francisco was reduced from 22.5 thousand km to 9.5 thousand km.

The canal allows vessels of all types to pass through, from private yachts to huge tankers and container ships. The maximum size of a ship that can transit the Panama Canal has become a de facto standard in shipbuilding, called Panamax.

Vessels are guided through the Panama Canal by the Panama Canal Pilot Service. The average time for a vessel to pass through the canal is 9 hours, the minimum is 4 hours 10 minutes. Maximum throughput is 48 vessels per day.

Three years before the canal's centenary, on September 4, 2010, the millionth ship, the Chinese bulk carrier Fortune Plum, passed through the Panama Canal with a cargo of 40,000 tons of steel, heading from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. Since the canal opened, 1 million ships have passed through it, accounting for 5% of global trade each year.

A year ago, work began to widen the canal by building a third track to accommodate the giant modern container ships, cruise ships and tankers, many of which are now too wide for the canal. The work was estimated at about $5.2 billion and is scheduled for completion in August 2014, in time for the canal's 100th anniversary.

The third passage, parallel to the previous two, will be able to accommodate massive vessels up to 366 m in length, 49 m in width and 15 m in draft. The canal's goal is to double cargo capacity from 300 to 600 million tons.

Erie Canal - New York

Construction of the canal began in 1817 and was completed in 1825.
Total length: 584 km (363 miles).
Connects Lake Erie with the river. Hudson, New York.
Cost: $7 million.

The Erie Canal is the main component of the New York State Barge Canal, a system of canalized waterways in the northeast. USA, in the state of New York. E.-k. connects the Great Lakes system with the Atlantic Ocean through the river. Hudson. Length from Buffalo to Lake. Erie to the city of Cohos at the confluence of the canalized river. Mohawk in the river Hudson over 540 km, width 50 m. On the E.-K. 35 locks up to 94.5 m long, 13.2 m wide and 3.6 m deep. Cargo turnover is about 4 million tons (oil and oil products, building materials, grain). Built 1817-25; It was reconstructed several times (last time in 1905-18). In the middle of the 19th century. played an outstanding role in the development of the interior of the United States.

Suez Canal - Egypt

Construction of the canal began on April 25, 1859, and the opening took place on November 17, 1869.
Total length: 193.3 km (120.11 mi).
Connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.
Cost: 560 million francs.

The Suez Canal is a navigable lockless canal in Egypt connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. The canal zone is considered a conditional border between two continents. The shortest waterway between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans (an alternative route is 8 thousand km longer). Main ports: Port Said and Suez.

Located west of the Sinai Peninsula, it is 163 kilometers long. The canal is located in Egypt between Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea and Suez on the Red Sea. On the eastern side of the canal opposite Port Said is Port Fuad, where the Suez Canal Authority is located. On the eastern side of the canal opposite Suez is Port Tawfik.

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.

Today it is the main budget-generating project in Egypt. According to some experts, the canal gives the country even more money than oil production, and much more than the rapidly developing tourism infrastructure in the country currently allows.

Royal Canal – Ireland

Construction of the canal began in 1790 and opened in 1817.
Total length: 145 km (90 miles).
Connects Dublin with the River Shannon at Clundara.
Cost: £1,421,954.

The King's Canal was originally built to carry freight and passenger traffic from the River Liffey in Dublin to the River Shannon at Clundara in Ireland. The canal was abandoned, but was later restored for navigation. The full length of the canal was reopened to ship traffic on October 1, 2010.

Grand Canal - China

Construction of the canal began in the 5th century.
Total length: 1,776 km (1,103 miles).
Connects Beijing and Gangzhou, China.
Cost: unknown.

The Grand Canal is a shipping canal in China, one of the oldest existing hydraulic structures in the world. It was built for two thousand years - from the 6th century. BC. until the 13th century AD Currently, it is one of the most important inland waterways of the People's Republic of China, connecting the country's major ports of Shanghai and Tianjin. The length of the canal is 1,782 km, and with branches to Beijing, Hangzhou and Nantong - 2,470 km. The width at the narrowest part in the provinces of Shandong and Hebei is 40 m, at the widest part in Shanghai - 3500 m. The depth of the fairway is from 2 to 3 m. The canal is equipped with 21 locks. The maximum carrying capacity is 10 million tons per year.

The canal connects the Yellow and Yangtze rivers, including the beds of rivers such as Baihe, Weihe, Sishui and others, as well as several lakes.

The Grand Canal consists of several sections built at different times. The southernmost section was laid in the 7th century, the northernmost in the 13th century, and part of the central section from Huaiyin to Jiangdu runs along the ancient Hangou Canal.