Transiting the Suez Canal

As many of you I’ve heard of the Suez Canal and imagined going by ship through it but to be perfectly honest with you it in no way compares to the Panama Canal for me.  It took us a full day to make it through. It was a warm humid day and our Cruise Director Jeremy spoke about parts of it as we transited but it was difficult to hear him and he never spoke for very long.  The canal banks are dry and deserty.   They are heavily guarded from old run down shacks.   Often times we saw machine gun types of rifles propped out through the windows.  The canal was speckled with small fishing boats all being paddled, no motors.  Traffic on the canal is two way.   It seemed to us that most all were container ships and they appeared close to us and each other.  We do take aboard a pilot.   They often refer to this canal as the “Marlboro “ canal because there is corruption when pilots and engineers board your vessel.  They often demand cigarettes or alcohol in return for your passage.  It was even said that the Evergreen that got stuck in 2021 was due to the Suez pilot that boarded and didn’t know what he was doing.  

Going through the canal took us about 12 hours.  It was opened in 1869.  There are around 150 species of fish and some waterfowl in a few estuaries like egrets, gulls and herons. 

In 1870, the canal’s first full year of operation, there were 486 transits, or fewer than 2 per day. In 1966 there were 21,250, an average of 58 per day, with net tonnage increasing from some 444 metric tons (437,000 long tons) in 1870 to about 278,400,000 metric tons (274,000,000 long tons). By the mid-1980s the number of daily transits had fallen to an average of 50, but net annual tonnage was about 355,600,000 metric tons (350,000,000 long tons). In 2018 there were 18,174 transits with a net annual tonnage of about 1,139,630,000 metric tons (1,121,163,000 long tons)

The original canal did not permit two-way traffic, and ships would stop in a passing bay to allow the passage of ships in the other direction. Transit time then averaged 40 hours, but by 1939 it had been reduced to 13 hours. A system of convoys was adopted in 1947, consisting of one northbound and two southbound per day. Transit time went up to 15 hours in 1967 despite convoying, reflecting the great growth in tanker traffic at that time. With some enlargement of the canal, transit time since 1975 has ranged from 11 to 16 hours. Upon entering the canal at Port Said or Suez, ships are assessed for tonnage and cargo (passengers have ridden without charge since 1950) and are handled by one or two pilots for actual canal transit, which is increasingly controlled by radar. Southbound convoys moor at Port Said, Al-Ballāḥ, Lake Timsah, and Al-Kabrīt, where there are bypasses that allow northbound convoys to proceed without stopping. In August 2015 a new 35-km (22-mile) expansion running parallel to the main channel was opened, enabling two-way transit through the canal. The main channel was deepened to allow for the passage of larger ships. The expansion project, launched by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2014, was part of an effort to boost Egypt’s economy.

Our Transit was nothing spectacular but now we have done it.  We noticed how poor many of the families live along the banks.  All the canal was walled but there were access points.  A new bridge is being built and is almost finished.  There are still ferries that take vehicles across from one side to the other.  Some are swing bridges too. 

This is a piece of security set up for going through the canal.  It has a tremendously loud sound which they say can break your ear drums if you are trying to pirate the ship 

You see a guard shack to the left and dry desolate banks 

The wall on one side that runs the entire length of the canal 

Looking out from the aft you can just barely see a ship behind us.  It looked much closer than this 

One side of the canal looked a bit more green with more amenities.  The ship is not allowed to pull any water from the canal so we had to onload water at our last port and conserve. 

The walk on the other side and one of the ferries. 

The new bridge being built.  It will save hours off travel between both sides along with fuel 



Some of the poor run down living quarters we passed .  Our sun is setting earlier and earlier as we get closer to the equator.  Soon it will be exactly 12 hours of daylight and nighttime.  

Entertainment is mediocre at best.  We have not attended too many shows.  We do have singers and dancers but no BBKing singers which is very disappointing.  Soon I will share with you sone of the crafts Betsy and I have made.