Since its completion in 1869, the Suez Canal, which runs through Egypt and connects the Mediterranean and Red Seas, has been a source of contention between world powers. On March 23, the heavily laden cargo ship Ever Given, which was longer than the Eiffel Tower and got her bow wedged into the bank of the waterway, the critical shipping path was entirely shut. International shipping was disrupted as elite teams attempted to refloat the enormous freighter.

Introduction

The man-made waterway, which runs through Egypt for 193 kilometers connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, and hence the Atlantic and Indian oceans. As a result, it is an important transit point for ships transporting goods between Asia and Europe and the eastern United States as per USA Wire. It opened in 1869, 45 years before the Panama Canal, which connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and is significantly shorter. The sea-level canal is the world's longest without locks, with a normal transit time of roughly 13-15 hours from end to end.

Importance

Every year, the canal transports almost 12% of global trade, including everything from crude oil to wheat to instant coffee. A supertanker transporting Middle Eastern crude oil to Europe would have to sail an extra 6,000 miles around Africa's Cape of Good Hope without Suez, costing $300,000. although there would be savings from avoiding the Suez passage tolls, which can run hundreds of thousands of dollars. It can even handle aircraft carriers because it has no locks. According to the Suez Canal Authority, 1.03 billion tons of goods were transported via the canal in 2019. That's over four times the amount of traffic that passes through the Panama Canal as informed by USA Wire news. Because of its position, the canal serves as a vital route for moving crude oil and other hydrocarbons from Saudi Arabia to Europe and North America. In 2019, 54.1 million tons of cereal, 53.5 million tons of ores and metals, and 35.4 million tons of coal and coke went through the canal.

Origin

The canal's concept extends back to antiquity, but it wasn't until the mid-nineteenth century that Egypt's Ottoman viceroy Said Pasha awarded a concession to a French corporation to develop it. The project took ten years and 1.5 million workers to complete, costing $100 million ($1.9 billion now), more than double the original estimate. The canal opened in 1869, but its owners soon ran into financial difficulties, forcing them to sell a controlling part to the United Kingdom, which administered the canal for the next eight decades. In 1956, Egypt's anti-colonial President Gamal Abdel Nasser seized the canal, sparking the Suez Crisis, in which Israeli, British, and French forces invaded the Sinai and canal zone. The canal was closed for a year as a result of the crisis, which ended after the United States intervened against the invasion. (It also witnessed the establishment of the first UN peacekeeping force.) Following the 1967 Israeli-Arab conflict, Egypt closed Suez to ship traffic for eight years as Egyptian and Israeli army's fought across the water as reported on republican news sources.

Suez Canal Authority

The Suez Canal Authority, which operates the canal now, is a major financial generator for Egypt's government, collecting $5.61 billion in revenue per year. In 2015, an $8 billion canal expansion was announced, with the intention of increasing ship traffic and more than doubling revenue. Pretty much every great under the sun, accumulating in 2019 to 1.03 billion tons of freight, as per the Suez Canal Authority. That is approximately multiple times more than elapsed through the Panama Canal. The waterway's area makes it a critical connection for the delivery of unrefined petroleum and different hydrocarbons from nations like Saudi Arabia to Europe and North America. Among different merchandise, 54.1 million tons of cereal went through the trench, 53.5 million tons of minerals and metals, and 35.4 million tons of coal and coke in 2019.