Suez Canal.. Artery for Prosprity

Historical Stages of Linking the Red Sea with the Mediterranean

Historically, Egypt is the first country to dig an artificial canal in its territories to link the Red Sea with the Mediterranean via the River Nile and its bypasses. Pharaoh, Sesostris III, 1887 B.C., was the first king to dig such a canal. It was opened in 1874 B.C., as king Sesostris III recorded that ceremony in a wall portray on Karnak Temple in Luxor. The remains of this old canal still exist parallel to the current Suez Canal. Sesostris III Canal had been neglected but re-opened several times as follows:
* Siti I Canal, 1310 B.C. During digging the current canal, a small temple of king Ramsis was discovered on the west bank 981 km away from the Canal,
*Nekhao Canal, 609 B.C. For lack of maintenance, the buried-in-sand Canal of Sesostris III was re-digged,
* Dara I Canal, or Persian Canal, 510 B.C.,
* Ptolemy II Canal, 285 B.C.,
* Romans Canal, 117 B.C.,
* Byzantines Canal, 400 A.D.,
* Commander-of-the-Faithfuls Canal, 640 A.D., after the Islamic Opening to Egypt, and lasted for 150 years,
* Suez Canal. The first canal to directly link the Red Sea with the Mediterranean. It has been first opened for international voyages on 17 November 1869 A.D.
* Egypt nationalized its Canal on 26 July 1956.
* The Canal was closed 5 times. The last and most dangerous of which was because of the June 1967 Aggression. The Canal remained closed for 8 years. The Canal was re-opened in June 1975.

Suez Canal Properties
Length:
- Total length is 190.25 km,
- Distance from the luminous buoy to Port-Said lighthouse is 19.5 km,
- Distance form Port-Said to Ismailia is 78.5 km,
- Distance from Port-Said to Ismaillia is 78.5 km,
- Distance from Ismaillia to Port-Tawfeek is 83.75 km,
- The two-way parts length is 78 km
- Water surface width (north/south) is 280.345 m,
- Width between the buoys (north/south) is 195.215 m,
- Canal depth is 22.5 m,
- Maximum ship draught allowed is 62 feet,
- Water sector area is 4350.48 m,
- Maximum motionless tonnage is 210.00 tons,
- Speed allowed for loaded carriers is 13 km/h,
- Speed allowed for unloaded carriers is 14 km/h.
Merits of the Canal
- The longest lock-less canal in the world,
- Day and night navigation,
- Very few marine casualties compared to other canals,
- Can be widened and deepened at any time,
- Navigation electronic monitoring and up-to-date radar networks are in use, Now, the Canal allows the unloaded giant carriers to transit.

The Canal and International Trade
- The distance between Jeddah Port, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Constanza Port, in the Black Sea, via the Cape of Good Hope is 11771 miles. However, it is only 1698 miles via Suez Canal. The Canal, then, saves 86% of the same distance,
- Also, the Canal saves 23% of the distance between Tokyo and Rotterdam Port in Holland.
- The Canal helps transiting 7% of the sea-born interntaional trade voyages, 35% of the voyages to and from the ports on the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, 20% of the voyages to and from the ports of India and Southern-East Asia, and 39 % to and from the Far East.

Contstantinople Agreement
This agreement is on ship transit via the Canal in accordance with the term and conditions hereof. The world's kings and sultans attended signing the agreement as the Ottoman Sultan issued a royal decree in this concern on 22 February 1866. The Agreement stipulates that: " The Maritime Suez Canal shall always be free and open for navigation for all kinds of ships in peace and war without discrimination on the basis of the nationality thereof ".

The Canal's Procedures
In order to maintain the level of income and to protect the environment, since it has taken charge of the Canal after the nationalization, the Authpority has always been keen on continuing developing the Canal in order to achieve safety for all kinds and sizes of ships. In this concern, the Authority adopts two basic strategies, namely developing the canal and the services, and flexibility of pricing.

Developing the Canal and its Services
The first strategy comprised many stages. Some have already been implemented, while others are being done. Also, there are others that are planned for the future. The details of these stages are as follows:
Developing the Canal
As regards development, the Canal is pivotal. Such development includes widening, deepening, digging bypasses, increasing the sunken sector and the maximum draught of the ship, as well as extending the bypasses so as to shorten the waiting time. Developing Equipment The Authority is always keen on obtaining the most up-to-date machinery, so as to be able to provide safety arournd the clock and along the year.

The Crackers:
The Canal has a group of 11 crackers of all kinds (bucket crackers ,digger crackers...etc). The crackers are suitable for all geological surfaces, and are being used in the other national projects (the ports of Alexandria, Dekheila, Damietta, Adabeia, Ain-Sokhna, Safaga), in addition to the ports of some other brotherly countries (the ports of Tartous in Syria, Darana in Libya, Showeikh in Kuwait).

Among the latest projects are those of East Port-Said, whose cost is LE 112 millions have started from October 1998 and it was completed in July 2001, and clearing Al-Temsah Lake at the cost of LE 50 millions and saving LE 100 millions.

* Salvage and Tugging:
The Authority possesses about 84 tugboats, 35 of which are with tugging power from 16 to 160 tons. This group works in salvage and tugging ships and fighting fire in the high seas. The fire brigades of the Authority participated in cleansing the Suez Canal, after the 1967 and the 1973 wars. The last of its works was the salvage of the Dutch container that drowned in Port Said.

* Communication and Navigation Monitoring:
The authority uses photo-fiber cables and the satellites for its communication networks. It has also developed its electronic monitoring and radar coverage systems to include the Suez Canal region.

*Developing Pilot's Competence and Securing Navigation in the Canal: This is achieved by training the pilots and keeping the most up-to-date tugboats so as to realize the maximum safety for the ships through their transit in the Canal.

*Developing the Ship-yards:
The authority developed both ship yards of Port Said and Port-Tawfeek, which, in the pre-nationalization, were called the "General Workshops". It also provided basins and cranes necessary for the service and maintenance of the transit ships.

Pricing Flexibility
The importance of the Suez Canal and the savimgs realized from transiting through the Canal is a relative matter. The sea paths that are near to the enterways of the Canal realize very big savings(in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf-the Mediterranian), whereas the long paths save less (Australia-Europe) as they carry a great portion of the world commercial activities.

Since 1987, the Canal adopted flexible strategies for pricing the transit tolls by presenting discounts to the long haul ships. The Authority studies the operation costs of the ships case by case in order to determine the suitable discounts. These strategies vary to extend to benefit the most possible range ships through:
- Presenting discounts to the long haul ships,
- Supporting the environment- friendly tankers (Double Hull-Segregated Ballast Tanks) by presenting toll discounts of 4.2% since 1994,
- Presenting toll discounts to the liquidized natural gas tankers in order to open new markets for the gas coming from the gulf area into Europe. Discounts have reached 35%. Also the Authority offered additional discount to the 35% as a cargo incentive to the one client in one year,
- Decreasing the tolls of the tourist ships, that visit the Egyptian ports on both the Red and the Mediterranean seas up to 50%, so as to encourage the maritime tourism,
- Integration and coordination with the oil pipeline, Somid, by presenting a discount of about 35 % to the giant tankers that use the Somid pipelines in order to decrease their loads,

Is it true that the tolls increased recently and the ships transit decreased and is directed to other harbours, and that the services reflect that bad impact?... And, in this respect, what does the Authority offer in order to overcome these problems?

Lieutenant-General Ahmad Fadel Said:
First: the tolls didn't increase since 1994. Moreover, the Authority presents more facilities through its flexible strategies to attract more ships.
Second: the relation between the Authority and the international ports depends on integration and cooperation rather than competition. In addition, the services offered by the Authority are much different from those of the other harbours. Our service is restricted to transit and its relevant services.
Third: the decrease of the ship transit referred to economic reasons.

Future Transit Plans
The future transit plans are concerned with serving the national economy and developing income through foreign resources. Such plans are based on two main pivots:
1- Completion of final phases of the second stage of developing the Canal. Such phases aim at increasing the allowed ships' draught while transit to reach 72 feet by 2010.
2- Several proposals and studies that the authourity puts before its eyes, which aim at decreasing the time of waiting and transiting. Some of these proposals are:
a- Increasing the Speed of the Transient Ship :
The speed average is 13-15 km/h, according to the kind and weight of th ship. It is proposed to increase this speed by more 2-3 km/h so as not to exceed 16 km/h. This can save the transit time and the operation costs as well. b- Increasing the Bypass Lengths: This can help decrease the time of waiting, and make the bypass lenghts more effective, particularly, if they were in the middle part of the Canal. Serious studies now are underway on digging a new bypass to make the two-way parts 71 km in the middle of the Canal and 125 km as a total length.
c- Increasing the Number of Caravans:
In the light of the previous study, it will be possible to increase the number of caravans so as to facilitate the number of transit containers.

In addition, the Authority has always been keen on improving the customer services, as the customers always expect distinguished services at reasonable costs. Therefore, the Authority must adopt new strategies that are based on applying science and research, exchanging information and using the electronic marketing.

Finally, the Authority saves no effort to present transit services to the world trade in a safe and secure way.

The Canal's share in the National Income
The Canal's share in the national income from 1975 to 2002 is about $ 35 billions. General Fadel declared that the Canal levied revenues exceeding $ 2 billions in the years 2002/2003. This increase was a result of the ioncrease of the daily revenue average from 5 to 7 million dollars. Also because of the increase of the daily net transient weights from 1 to 1.5 million tons. This indicates that these daily revenues are a reflection of the projects of developing the Canal.