Suez Canal – 10 Fast Facts
Read through 10 facts on Suez Canal below:
1. The Arabian name for the Suez canal is Qanat as-Suways
2. The present canal was built between 1859 and 1869 as a partnership between Egyptian khedive Said Pasha and France’s Suez Canal Company and was officially opened on 17 November 1869
3. You may not believe this, but nany British statesmen were opposed to the build, considering its construction a political scheme designed to undermine their dominance of global shipping.
4. Geographically, the canal runs North to South across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, between Port Said and the Gulf of Suez
5. After several enlargemenst, the canal is now 193.30km long, 24m deep and 312 meters wide.
6. In 2014 the Egyptian Government oversaw an $8 Billion expansion project that widened the canal from 61m to 312m for a 21 mile distance. This means that ships can pass each other here in opposite directions simultaneously.
7. Despite the 2014 widening, In March 2021, the Suez Canal was blocked for six days by the Ever Given, a container ship that had run aground in the canal.[4] The 400-metre-long (1,300 ft), 20,000 TEU vessel was buffeted by strong winds on the morning of 23 March, and ended up wedged across the waterway with its bow and stern stuck in the canal banks, blocking all traffic until it could be freed
8. The Suez Canal is a sea level Canal but the height of water level differs slightly, with the extreme tidal range being 65 cm in the north and 1.9 m in the south.
9. The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE), is a set of locations, comprising 461km squared, neighbouring the canal where customs rates have been reduced to zero in order to attract investment.9. The Statue of Liberty, by French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, was originally intended for the canal. Read about that fascinating fact here
10. The Statue of Liberty, by French sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, was originally intended for the canal. Read about that fascinating fact here.
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