New Suez Canal

New Suez Canal
Specifications
Length 35 km (22 miles)
Locks None
Status Open[1]
Navigation authority Suez Canal Authority
History
Original owner Suez Canal Authority
Principal engineer Egyptian Armed Forces (EAAF)
Other engineer(s)

The Arab Contractors
Orascom Construction Industries

84 other companies[2]
Construction began 5 August 2014
Date of first use 6 August 2015
Date completed 9 December 2016
Geography
Branch of Suez Canal (Length 193.30 km)

The New Suez Canal (Egyptian Arabic: قناة السويس الجديدة‎‎ Kanāt El Sewēs El Gedīda) is the name of a waterway project in Egypt, to expand the capacity of the existing Suez Canal.

Overview

The project adds a new 35-kilometre-long (22 mi) second shipping lane in the existing 164-kilometre-long (102 mi) canal, allowing for separated passing of ships in opposite directions. It also includes the deepening and expansion of a 37-kilometre-long (23 mi) section of the existing canal.[3][4]

The enlarged capacity allows ships to sail in both directions at the same time over much of the canal's length. Beforehand, much of the canal was only one shipping lane wide, with limited wider basins for passing. This is expected to decrease waiting time from 11 hours to 3 hours for most ships,[3][5] and to increase the capacity of the Suez Canal from 49 to 97 ships a day.

Technical difficulties initially arose, such as the flooding of the new canal through seepage from the existing canal.[6] Nevertheless, work on the New Suez Canal was completed in July 2015.[7][8] The channel was officially inaugurated with a ceremony attended by foreign leaders and featuring military fly-pasts on 6 August 2015, in accordance with the budgets laid out for the project.[9][10]

Point Coordinates
Northern End 30°43′06″N 32°20′46″E / 30.718282°N 32.345982°E / 30.718282; 32.345982 (New Suez Canal, Northern End)
Southern End 30°26′29″N 32°21′20″E / 30.441385°N 32.355423°E / 30.441385; 32.355423 (New Suez Canal, Southern End)

Benefits, costs, and risks

Egyptian officials especially the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, Vice-Admiral Mohab Mamish claimed that the $8.2 billion project, which expands capacity to 97 ships per day, will more than double annual revenues to some $13.5 billion by 2023. That, however, would require yearly growth of some 10%, some would say an optimistic projection given that in the entire period from 2000 to 2013 world seaborne shipping grew by just 37%, according to UNCTAD. A recent forecast from the IMF suggests that in the decade up to 2016 the annual rate of growth for global merchandise trade will have averaged 3.4%.[11]

About 18 scientists writing in the academic journal Biological Invasions in 2014 expressed concern about the project impacting the biodiversity and the ecosystem services of the Mediterranean Sea. They called on Egypt to assess the environmental effects that the canal expansion could cause, a request echoed by the executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.[12] Over 1,000 invasive species have entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal since its original construction in the mid-19th century,[13] with human activities becoming a leading cause of the decline of the sea's biodiversity, according to the European Commission's Joint Research Centre.[14]

Initially, the project was to be financed through a stock market IPO, allowing partial private ownership of the project. However, the government quickly changed its financing strategy, relying on interest-bearing investment certificates that do not confer any ownership rights to investors.[15] The certificates were issued by the Suez Canal Authority with an interest rate of 12%.

Revenues

The government has blocked access to the official revenues reports for three months after the opening. It then published two reports for August and September, which showed consecutive decreases in the total Suez Canal revenues by 10% or $150 million.[16]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Egypt Inaugurates Major Extension Of Suez Canal". Huffington Post. 6 August 2015.
  2. ↑ Atef, Ghada. "The Story of the New Suez Canal".
  3. 1 2 "New Suez Canal project proposed by Egypt to boost trade". Cairo News.Net. 5 August 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-07.
  4. ↑ "Egypt Plans To Dig New Suez Canal In Effort To Boost Trade". Huffington Post. 5 August 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
  5. ↑ Samuel Oakford (8 October 2014). "Egypt's Expansion of the Suez Canal Could Ruin the Mediterranean Sea". Vice News. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "Sisi Is Trying To Build A New Suez Canal But It's Not Exactly Going According To Plan". BuzzFeed. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  7. ↑ "Egypt Says Work Finished on New Suez Canal". Voice of America. July 29, 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  8. ↑ "Egypt's New Suez Canal to Be Completed for Aug. 6 Ceremony". New York Times. June 30, 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  9. ↑ "Egypt launches Suez Canal expansion". BBC News. 6 August 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  10. ↑ Tadros, Sherine (6 August 2015). "Egypt Opens New £6bn Suez Canal". Sky News. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  11. ↑ http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21660555-it-necessary-bigger-better-suez-canal
  12. ↑ Kingsley, Patrick (30 November 2014). "Suez canal scheme 'threatens ecosystem and human activity in Mediterranean'". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  13. ↑ "Invading the Mediterranean Sea: biodiversity patterns shaped by human activities". Frontiers in Marine Science. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  14. ↑ "Invading the Mediterranean Sea: human activities shape biodiversity patterns". Joint Research Centre. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  15. ↑ Isabel Esterman; Amira Salah-Ahmed (31 August 2014). "Crowdfunding the canal?". Mada Masr. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  16. ↑ http://www.elwatannews.com/news/details/826119
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