As long as the 192 kilometer stretch of the Suez Canal is, it does bear a unique resemblance to Egypt’s lengthy preoccupation with water canals and the like. Remarkably, Napoleon Bonaparte and his team of cartographers and engineers found remnants of an ancient west-east canal running from the Red Sea all the way to the Nile. And being the pragmatic visionary, he desired to build a north-south canal that connected the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.
However, it was not until the Suez Canal Authority in 1858 came into being to begin construction at its north terminal (Port Said) that this project was deemed a remote possibility.
But one might wonder why this route has turned out to be so important? Very simply, trading ships had to travel around Africa to get reach Europe from Asia and vice-versa. And much like the Panama Canal, this man-made waterway would reduce costs by minimizing the distance greatly apart from avoiding pirates along that route.
With the costs of building the canal almost double in comparison to its original estimate, the Suez Canal Authority found itself in financial difficulties when it opened in 17 November, 1869 and would not find favor as a popular shipping route for two years.
However, in the coming years, it would be part of an achievement that brought remarkable developments to world trade, as with the building of the American transcontinental railroad, the world could be circled in record time.
The canal currently allows ships up to 19 m or 210,000 deadweight tons at a maximum height of 68 m above water level, and since this limits supertankers from taking this route, plans to increase the draft to 22 m by 2010 are in progress.
