Sea route through the Suez Canal. Suez Canal: history and modernity. Suez Joint Stock Company
The Suez Canal is an artificial sea route on Egyptian territory, separating Eurasia from Africa. For almost 150 years it has been used for the shortest transport of goods from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean.
The Suez Canal is very easy to find 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 is Suez (on the Red Sea coast). It “cuts” the narrowest part of the Isthmus of Suez.
Since 1956, the Suez Canal has been fully owned by Egypt. Before that, it was owned by the General Suez Canal Organization, owned by France and England.
Dimensions
Different sources provide different information about the length, width and depth of the Suez Canal. According to the latest data, its length, including approach sections and the route, is approximately 193 kilometers. Throughout its entire length, the Suez Canal has unequal width and depth. By 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 profits from the use of this waterway amount to 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, and accordingly there is a large loss of time. In addition, there is a possibility of running 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 deck, the date of application and other factors, and ranges from 8-12 dollars per ton. The total cost of passing a ship with a large cargo can reach a million dollars.
The role of the canal in Egyptian life
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 the Suez Canal to see and take photos, which also helps to increase Egypt’s budget.
Modernization of the Suez Canal
After the Suez Canal began to belong to Egypt, the government began to consider its expansion 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 make it possible to extract even greater profits due to the increased throughput of the canal. The expansion should reduce wait times to travel through the passage to three hours (currently 11 hours) and triple the number of ships passing through the canal at any one time. In addition, a huge number of new jobs will appear. It is planned to spend several billion dollars on expansion.
Workarounds
Due to the high cost of passage, owners of transport vessels are looking for alternative ways to transport goods. The Israeli government proposed to build a bypass route through its territory. This is the so-called “bypassing” 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 also proposed replacing the Suez Canal. Presumably, the Northern Sea Route, which connects Europe with Asia, could be used as a replacement. Due to the melting of Arctic ice, this route is open for a longer time and, perhaps, in the near future, it will be possible to transport goods across Russian territory.
History of construction
The idea of making 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 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 from Herodotus has been found that says that Pharaoh Necho II began the construction, but Darius I completed the canal a century later. Then things didn't go very well. Reconstruction of the route took place in the 3rd century BC under the leadership of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The deepening of the canal took place several centuries later by order of Emperor Trajan, during his reign in Africa. In the 8th century (during the conquest of Egypt by the Arabs), despite the fact that this transport route was actively used, it was filled up.
In 1854, French businessman Ferdinand de Lesseps decides to resume the history of the Suez Canal. Since France had great influence in Egypt at that moment, he was allowed to start this process. Construction work started in 1859, the canal was opened 10 years later. Large numbers of Egyptians were forced into forced labor, and many died from hard labor, dehydration, and disease.
As a result of construction, the country's economy suffered seriously, which forced Ismail Pasha to sell his share of the Suez Canal World Organization 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 during 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 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 (609-594) 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). He is mentioned by Diodorus (I. 33. 11 -12) and Strabo (XVII. 1. 25), and is mentioned in the inscription on the stele from Pythos (16th year of the reign of Ptolemy). 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 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 easily separate in it.
Its fixed capital was equal to 200 million francs (in this amount Lesseps calculated all the costs of the enterprise), divided into 400 thousand shares of 500 francs each; Said Pasha signed up for a significant part of them. The English government, with 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, 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 (since 1863) by 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, 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 thence southeast along the sea canal to Suez; channel width 17 m on the surface, 8 m on the bottom; its depth on average is only 2¼ 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 Egypt's poor (in the early 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 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 to perform 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 canal played an important role in the expansion and further colonization of Africa. External debts forced Ismail Pasha, who succeeded 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.
Present tense
Egyptian Suez Canal Authority ( Suez Canal Authority, SCA) reported that at the end of 2009, 17,155 ships passed through the canal, which is 20% less than in 2009 (21,170 ships). For the Egyptian budget, this meant a reduction in revenues 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 the head of the Canal Authority, Ahmad Fadel, 17,799 ships passed through the Suez Canal in 2011, which is 1.1 percent less than the year before. At the same time, the Egyptian authorities earned $5.22 billion from the transit of ships (456 million dollars more than in 2010).
In December 2011, Egyptian authorities announced that tariffs for cargo transit, 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 canal. The passage through the canal takes about 14 hours. On average, 48 ships pass through the canal per day.
Connection between banks
Since April 1980, a road tunnel has been operating in the area of 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.
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.
see also
Notes
Literature
- Dementyev I. A. Suez Canal / Ed. acad. L. N. Ivanova. - Ed. 2nd. - M.: Geographgiz, 1954. - 72 p. - (At the world map). - 50,000 copies.(region) (1st ed. - M.: Geographgiz, 1952. 40 p.)
Links
- V. V. Vodovozov// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
- The Suez Canal is 140 years old: the story of the creation of a 19th-century legend. RIA NEWS (November 17, 2009). Archived from the original on May 19, 2012. Retrieved November 17, 2009.
How the idea came about construction of the Suez Canal? More than a hundred years ago, sailors leaving Hamburg for Bombay, one of the largest ports in eastern India, had to make a long detour. They walked around the southern tip of Africa, like the Portuguese Bartolomeu Diaz, or followed in the footsteps of Magellan to the west and around the southern tip of South America (more details:). Either way it was necessary to cover more than 9,000 kilometers. In the days of sailing, such a journey took several weeks. There was no other, shorter route from Europe to India. England and France, which captured large overseas colonies back in the Middle Ages, It would be especially beneficial to shorten this long path. The inquisitive gaze of politicians, economists, shipowners and sailors increasingly turned to the Mediterranean Sea, where the Red Sea, like a long snake, stretched from north to south between Africa and Asia. Only a narrow isthmus with many lakes separated the northern shore of the Red Sea from the Mediterranean. As long as this isthmus existed, the Mediterranean Sea was just a big dead end. “What a pity,” the shipowners thought, “that there is no through route between Africa and Arabia.” Then they remembered Egyptian pharaohs, which 3000 years ago they tried to dig in the isthmus. Couldn't we do the same today?
Suez Joint Stock Company
The idea of building a canal at the northern end of the Red Sea near Suez matured and became a project. To implement it, in 1846 the British, French and Austrians founded the first Suez Joint Stock Company. Old projects were abandoned and new ones were created. Year after year passed. During this time, a lot of water flowed from the Nile into the sea. People invented nitroglycerin, a motorized balloon, a bicycle, discovered the new planet Neptune and the anthrax microbe, and the sea route to India has not yet become shorter. In 1854, a French diplomat became the head of this society Ferdinand Lesseps. He reviewed the canal construction project proposed by the Austrian Negrelli, bought consent from the Egyptian king to build the Suez Canal on Egyptian territory and founded a new large joint stock company. Lesseps knew how to siphon money.Canal construction
Battalions of workers pitched tents and April 2, 1859 The first shovel of earth was taken out. It seemed canal construction will not be difficult - after all, the canal did not have to overcome any difference in height along the way; there was no need for locks or ship-lifting devices. Despite this, work progressed slowly. The construction machines now used on construction sites did not yet exist. The deadly heat made the work excruciating. Died during canal construction 20 thousand workers. Only 10 years later with great pomp - 160 kilometers long, 60 meters wide and 12 meters deep - was finally opened.Channel fee
No one remembered the workers anymore. Now it was necessary to reimburse as quickly as possible the 400 million francs that the construction of the canal had absorbed. This venture has paid off. If in the year the canal opened, 486 ships passed through the new waterway, then forty years later their number increased tenfold. And in 1956, their number reached 15,000. The collectors of the joint-stock company sat at the canal gates and collected channel fee. The share price of the Suez Joint Stock Company has been increasing.Suez Canal Gate
England was very pleased and began to make itself at home in the canal zone. First she ousted the French and Austrians, her former companions. It then built coal bunkers along the canal to supply fuel to its ships. Soon he joined them long row of military fortifications. "Bab-el-Man-deb" - " Gate of Death" - this is what the Arabs have long called Suez Canal Gate. The Suez Canal Zone became one of the largest bases of the British Empire.Nationalization of the Suez Canal
1952 was a year of great national awakening for the people of Egypt. The people overthrew the government King Farouk, supported by England, and proclaimed a republic. At its head stood Gamal Abdel Nasser. In 1956, at a mass rally, he announced nationalization of the Suez Canal and demanded that the British leave his zone. Through armed intervention, Great Britain and France tried to save their shaky positions, delay the fall of the colonial system and turn the wheel of history back. But the Egyptian people, who fought for a just cause, won. Descendants of workers who took part in construction of the Suez Canal oh, they took it the most important waterway between Europe and Asia into your own hands. Shareholders of the Suez Canal will no longer be able to increase capital by charging tolls to travel through the canal. All proceeds from it will go to improve the well-being of the entire people.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, Africa and Eurasia. On November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal was opened to navigation. The history of the largest man-made canal in the world in photographs.
The moment the heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser of the third generation "Peter the Great" passes the Suez Canal
Thomas Kerr Lynch, "A Visit to the Suez Canal"
Construction of the Suez Canal began in 1858, when the French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps, close to the Viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Said Pasha, received a concession for the construction from him. For the construction, the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez (Common Suez Canal Company) was established, in which a majority stake belonged to France and a minority stake to Egypt.
The channel, which greatly shortened the route from Europe to Asia, became popular from the very first days and turned out to be very successful commercially. Its discovery increased European interest in the Middle East
The first attempts to develop a canal were made even before our era, but construction was abandoned every now and then. In the 8th century
Caliph Mansur ordered the destruction of the canal in order to concentrate trade routes in the territory of the caliphate.
Construction of the Suez Canal took more than ten years. The workers, Egyptians from the poor, had to work forcedly under the scorching sun, in the desert, without enough fresh water. It took a lot of time to build just the freshwater canal from the Nile, which was supposed to supply workers with water. The canal was built by 60 thousand Egyptians per month, many of them died due to unbearable working conditions and epidemics.
Great Britain opposed the construction of the Suez Canal - it controlled the sea route to India through the Cape of Good Hope and was afraid of competition.
However, soon the money allocated for the construction of Suez ran out. Ismail Pasha, who succeeded Said Pasha, sold his share to Great Britain, and Egypt lost control of the canal, losing future profits. The "General Suez Canal Company" became Anglo-French.
In 1869 it was opened for shipping. The joyful event in Egypt was celebrated for a week. The Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi was supposed to write the opera “Aida” especially for the opening, but did not have time to finish it.
In 1956, the canal was partially destroyed during the Suez Crisis, which began after the Egyptian authorities decided to nationalize Suez. Britain, France and Israel fought together in the war against Egypt. Shipping was stopped for almost a year until the UN intervened in the conflict.
The conflict between Egypt and Israel escalated earlier after the latter appropriated Palestinian territories intended for Arab settlements. The UN Security Council demanded that Egypt open the canal for shipping, but it refused.
As a result of the joint military actions of the three countries, almost the entire Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip came under Israeli control. Israeli Prime Minister Ben-Gurion even hinted at the annexation of Sinai.
Under international pressure, Great Britain and France withdrew their troops from Egypt in December 1956, and Israel left Egyptian territories in March 1957.
The next Arab-Israeli conflict began in 1973 with an attack by Egyptian and Syrian troops on Israel. The military invasion began during the most important Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur. Due to the surprise of the attack, at first the advantage was on the side of the attackers, but soon the advantage was on the side of Israel, and then a UN ceasefire resolution followed.
The Suez Canal was only opened for use in 1975, after it was cleared by US forces.
According to the Convention of Constantinople of 1888, the canal must be “always free and open to all commercial and military vessels without distinction of flag,” regardless of whether in time of war or peace. The Egyptian government, in a declaration dated April 24, 1957, stated that it would “comply with the terms and spirit of the Convention of Constantinople of 1888” and that “the rights and obligations arising therefrom remain unchanged,” but Egypt refused the ships several times different countries in the passage along the canal.
The famous Statue of Liberty was originally planned to be installed in Port Said, a city at the end of the Suez Canal, and called the Light of Asia, but Egyptian authorities decided that transporting it from France would be too expensive.
On August 28, 2009, a Panamanian oil tanker sank in the Red Sea near the entrance to the Suez Canal, breaking in half. The ship was on its way to repair work and was empty. Only 60 tons of fuel ended up in the sea; none of the sailors were injured.
The Suez Canal is one of the main sources of income for the Egyptian budget. The country makes money from transit duties.
The length of the Suez Canal is about 190 km, its width at its deepest point is 200 m. It will take a ship about 14 hours to completely pass through the canal. About 50 ships pass through it every day. Approximately 10% of all global seaborne trade travels through the Suez Canal, the world's largest man-made canal.
Since 1981, there has been a road tunnel under Suez. In 2005, the cities of Port Said and Ismailia were connected by a bridge, which was named after the current President Hosni Mubarak. After the overthrow of the head of state, it no longer bears that name.
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 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, giant (at that time) 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 his hair out of 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. Exceptionally profitable geographical position The canal 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.