Heading To Suez Canal

Day 16

GOOD MORNING THE MEDITERRANEAN

This morning is a beautiful sunny 😎 morning and the water is flat and no Battle ships on the horizon… so all good. We started off with a good breakfast and we will attack the walking deck next…. See how that goes.

The Suez Canal (Egyptian Arabic: قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, Qanāt es-Suwais) is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest of Egypt). The 193.30 km (120.11 mi) long canal is a key trade route between Europe and Asia.

The Suez Canal from space, showing
the Great Bitter Lake at the centre (after the 2015 expansion)
Coordinates
30°42′18″N 32°20′39″E
Specifications
Length
193.3 km (120.1 miles)
Maximum boat beam
77.5 m (254 ft 3 in)
Maximum boat draft
20.1 m (66 ft)
Locks
None
Navigation authority
Suez Canal Authority
History
Construction began
25 April 1859; 164 years ago
Date completed
17 November 1869; 153 years
In 1858, Ferdinand de Lesseps formed the Suez Canal Company for the express purpose of building the canal. Construction of the canal lasted from 1859 to 1869. The canal officially opened on 17 November 1869. It offers vessels a direct route between the North Atlantic and northern Indian oceans via the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, avoiding the South Atlantic and southern Indian oceans and reducing the journey distance from the Arabian Sea to London by approximately 8,900 kilometres (5,500 mi), to 10 days at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) or 8 days at 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph).[1] The canal extends from the northern terminus of Port Said to the southern terminus of Port Tewfik at the city of Suez. In 2021, more than 20,600 vessels traversed the canal (an average of 56 per day).[2]

The original canal featured a single-lane waterway with passing locations in the Ballah Bypass and the Great Bitter Lake.[3] It contained, according to Alois Negrelli's plans, no locks, with seawater flowing freely through it. In general, the water in the canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. South of the lakes, the current changes with the tide at Suez.[4]

The canal was the property of the Egyptian government, but European shareholders, mostly British and French, owned the concessionary company which operated it until July 1956, when President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised it—an event which led to the Suez Crisis of October–November 1956.[5] The canal is operated and maintained by the state-owned Suez Canal Authority[6] (SCA) of Egypt. Under the Convention of Constantinople, it may be used "in time of war as in time of peace, by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag."[7] Nevertheless, the canal has played an important military strategic role as a naval short-cut and choke point. Navies with coastlines and bases on both the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea (Egypt and Israel) have a particular interest in the Suez Canal. After Egypt closed the Suez Canal at the beginning of the Six-Day War on 5 June 1967, the canal remained closed for precisely eight years, reopening on 5 June 1975.[8]

The Egyptian government launched construction in 2014 to expand and widen the Ballah Bypass for 35 km (22 mi) to speed up the canal's transit time. The expansion intended to nearly double the capacity of the Suez Canal, from 49 to 97 ships per day.[9] At a cost of LE 59.4 billion (US$9 billion), this project was funded with interest-bearing investment certificates issued exclusively to Egyptian entities and individuals.

The Suez Canal Authority officially opened the new side channel in 2016. This side channel, at the northern side of the east extension of the Suez Canal, serves the East Terminal for berthing and unberthing vessels from the terminal. As the East Container Terminal is located on the Canal itself, before the construction of the new side channel it was not possible to berth or unberth vessels at the terminal while a convoy was running

Today was a very quite day, just checking for other vessels on the water. We sat around talking. After lunch we headed down to a talk on the Suez Canal. Letting us know when things were going to happen etc. after that we had another look around and had a rest before getting ready for dinner again. Rell is having a problem with not enough scarves on the trip. We had a nice Mediterranean dinner and then headed off to the show for tonight the Forever Tenors. Not my cup of tea but was okay. Rell stayed for drinks but I was ready for bed… wog coming on. People coughing all over the ship.

GOOD NIGHT EGYPT 🇪🇬Read more