Suez Canal

The Suez Canal (Arabic, Qanā al-Suways), west of the Sinai Peninsula, is a 163-km maritime canal in Egypt between Port Said (Būr Sa'īd) on the Mediterranean Sea and Suez (al-Suways) on the Red Sea.

Present day

The canal has no locks because there is no sea-level difference and no hills to climb. The canal allows the passage of ships of up to some 150,000 tons displacement, with cargo. It permits ships of up to 16 m (53 feet) draft to pass, and improvements are planned to increase this to 22 m (72 feet) by 2010 to allow supertanker passage. Presently supertankers can offload part of their cargo onto a canal-owned boat and reload at the other end of the canal. There is one shipping lane with several passing areas.

Related Topics:
Locks - Displacement - Draft - Supertanker

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Some 25,000 ships can pass through the canal each year, bearing about 14% of world shipping. The passage takes between 11 and 16 hours.

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Since 1980 there has been a road tunnel under the canal, and since 1999 a powerline has crossed the Suez Canal. A railroad on the west bank runs parallel to the canal for its entire length.

Related Topics:
1980 - 1999 - Powerline

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