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CAIRO: Egypt’s Suez Canal, where frantic efforts were being made on Wednesday (March 24) to free a giant container ship, opened 150 years ago.
READ: Suez Canal blocked by huge freighter
It has been regularly expanded and modernized and today is capable of hosting some of the largest supertankers in the world.
Here is a look back at the key stages of the expansion of the waterway, which handles approximately 10 percent of international maritime trade.
BEGINNING
When the channel at sea level was first opened in 1869, it was 164 km long and 8 m deep.
It could accommodate ships of up to about 4,500 tonnes at a depth of 6.7 m, which made up the majority of the world’s fleet at the time, according to the Suez Canal Authority.
In 1887, the canal was modernized to allow night navigation, which doubled its capacity.
A file photo from November 1869 shows the inauguration of the Suez Canal in Egypt, which opened after a decade-long construction to link the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. (Photo: AFP)
GROWTH IN THE 1950s
It was not until the 1950s that the waterway was substantially widened, deepened and lengthened, following the demands of the shipping companies.
When it was nationalized by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1956, it was 175 km long and 14 m deep, and could carry tankers with a capacity of about 27,000 tons to a depth of 10.7 meters.
The Suez Canal in 1955, during a phase of great expansion and a year before it was nationalized by Egypt. (Photo: AFP)
21ST CENTURY
A major expansion in 2015 brought the length of the waterway to 193.3 km and its depth to 24 m.
It meant that the canal could handle supertankers with a capacity of some 217,000 tonnes, some of the largest in the world, reaching up to 20.1 m deep in the water.
In 2019, around 50 ships used the canal on a daily basis, compared with three in 1869.
Traffic is expected to nearly double by 2023, and the two-way traffic will also reduce wait times, the authority says.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Navy Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group passing through the Suez Canal on May 9, 2019, on its way to the Gulf. (Photo: AFP / Darion Chanelle Triplett)
FASTER ROUTE
Most of the oil transported by sea passes through the Suez Canal, which is the fastest crossing from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean, but requires high tolls.
Travel between the Gulf ports and London, for example, is roughly halved when passing through Suez, compared to the alternative route through the southern tip of Africa.
Most of the cargo that travels from the Gulf to Western Europe is oil. In the opposite direction, it is mainly manufactured goods and cereals from Europe and North America heading to the Far East and Asia.
