New Suez Canal: why did the famous channel need an understudy

Almost three years ago, in August 2015, the grand opening of a new branch of the Suez Canal took place. Strategically important for the entire region, the shortened waterway from Europe to Asia was built almost 150 years ago, and now it can’t cope with the flow of ships and needs reconstruction.

After conquering Ancient Egypt, the canal, requiring regular efforts to maintain operability, was abandoned. The leaders of the countries concerned periodically recalled its colossal economic importance, but things never came to the restoration of the channel.

Everything changed in the heyday of the colonial expansion of European countries in Asia. The creation of a canal that would shorten the sea route from Europe to India by 8,000 kilometers was seriously discussed in the 19th century. Construction work has been carried out for more than 10 years in the most difficult conditions of the desert, with a lack of drinking water and under the scorching sun. The Suez Canal, originally owned by the Franco-Egyptian company, was launched in 1869. A little later, Great Britain gained control over it, for which the exploitation of the canal became an important part of the colonial development of India. The Suez Canal, together with Egypt, in whose territory it is located, went through many trials until, finally, it was nationalized and became the exclusive property of the country.

Due to the same water level in the Mediterranean and Red Seas, the Suez Canal does not need locks. Its depth is 20-24 meters, and its length is about 160 kilometers. Part of the canal passes through the territory of the Big Gorky Lake. At the entrance to the canal from the Mediterranean Sea is the large port city of Port Said, and in the Red Sea is the port of Suez. The economic importance of the channel, both for world trade and for Egypt itself, is very great. About a third of the vessels passing annually through the canal are oil tankers and ships with liquefied natural gas. Large tankers with heavy weight are forced to unload some of the oil products into a special oil pipeline and take them after passing through the channel.

Despite the large cargo flow, the Suez Canal experienced a number of problems associated with the low capacity of the waterway. To eliminate this drawback, it was decided to build a backup of the Suez Canal - the new Suez Canal. The construction of a 35-kilometer waterway was completed in just one year. The new Suez Canal duplicates part of the path of the old canal, which significantly increases throughput and also saves waiting time. Along with the construction of the second track, dredging works were carried out on the old section of the channel, which also favorably affected the canal's working capacity.