46
The Suez Canal
surface of over 100 km 2 • The depression in the northern part was over 12 m deep
and, therefore, little deepening had to be done in the northern basin. The shores
are sandy and, on the eastern shore, with several big salt swamps (Fig.20). The
western shore is steeper and a few rock outcrops are formed; at water level, beach
rock is formed. The filling of the Bitter Lakes from the Mediterranean started in
the spring of 1869. On August 15th 1869 the waters ofthe two seas mixed for the
first time in the Bitter Lakes (Fig. 13).
The last 27 km to Suez show another important feature-a rocky obstacle, the
2-m-high sill of Shallufa-in the past separating the Bitter Lakes from the Red
Sea and causing one ofthe last-minute troubles for the opening of the Suez Canal
in October 1869.
At km 159 a channelleaves westward and turns north to the old city of Suez.
In fact the-Iast 3-4 km of the Canal are built in an extension of the Gulf which
became dry only in the first decades of the last century and was flooded again by
the Canal works (Fig.20).
The Bay of Suez being very shallow, continuous dredging and deepening of
the bay are carried out for about 5 km offshore to the New Port Rock.
At the beginning, the navigational depth of the Canal was 8 m, the surface
width 59-98 m, while the minimum bottom width was 22 m. The Canal has been
widened and deepened several times. These operations started in 1876 after the
first years of successful use. In 1958 after the first stage of the Nasser Project, the
depth of the Canal was 13 m, and the Canal width 125 m; the permissible ship
draught was 11.5 m. The further stages of the Nasser Project would have been
finished in 1972, had they not been interrupted by the 1967 war, and would have
brought the depth to 14.7 m and the canal width to a maximum of 250 m. This
would have raised the maximum tonnage of the ships permitted to cross the
Canal from 40,000 to 60,000 tons.
The completion ofthe Nasser Project would have brought the total excavated
amount of cubic meters to 365 million m 3 (175 millions before the start of the
project and 190 millions during the project itself).
Some 20% of the world tonnage passed yearly through the Canal, of which
70% were oil tankers. Big refineries were built west of Port Ibrahim at the Gulf of
Suez outlet; already in 1936 Gruvel complained ab out the deleterious effects of
the oll pollution.
The Suez Canal was closed several times during armed conflicts in the area.
During the fighting of 1915 navigation was interrupted for only a few days. In the
Second World War, the interruption was for 76 days. This increased to several
months after the 1956 crisis. After June 1967 the trafik was shut down, to be
started again only in 1975. From December 1973 to May 1974 a compact dam,
built from one shore to the other slightly north of the outlet of the Canal into the
Great Bitter Lake, interfered with the free flow of water through the Canal. By
April 1975 the Canal was cleared of all obstacles and in June 1975 it was reopened
to navigation.
From information presently available it does not seem that the long period of
interruption in the dredgings along the Canal basically changed any of its biologically significant topographical features. Lack of dredging, decrease in turbidity
The Suez Canal
surface of over 100 km 2 • The depression in the northern part was over 12 m deep
and, therefore, little deepening had to be done in the northern basin. The shores
are sandy and, on the eastern shore, with several big salt swamps (Fig.20). The
western shore is steeper and a few rock outcrops are formed; at water level, beach
rock is formed. The filling of the Bitter Lakes from the Mediterranean started in
the spring of 1869. On August 15th 1869 the waters ofthe two seas mixed for the
first time in the Bitter Lakes (Fig. 13).
The last 27 km to Suez show another important feature-a rocky obstacle, the
2-m-high sill of Shallufa-in the past separating the Bitter Lakes from the Red
Sea and causing one ofthe last-minute troubles for the opening of the Suez Canal
in October 1869.
At km 159 a channelleaves westward and turns north to the old city of Suez.
In fact the-Iast 3-4 km of the Canal are built in an extension of the Gulf which
became dry only in the first decades of the last century and was flooded again by
the Canal works (Fig.20).
The Bay of Suez being very shallow, continuous dredging and deepening of
the bay are carried out for about 5 km offshore to the New Port Rock.
At the beginning, the navigational depth of the Canal was 8 m, the surface
width 59-98 m, while the minimum bottom width was 22 m. The Canal has been
widened and deepened several times. These operations started in 1876 after the
first years of successful use. In 1958 after the first stage of the Nasser Project, the
depth of the Canal was 13 m, and the Canal width 125 m; the permissible ship
draught was 11.5 m. The further stages of the Nasser Project would have been
finished in 1972, had they not been interrupted by the 1967 war, and would have
brought the depth to 14.7 m and the canal width to a maximum of 250 m. This
would have raised the maximum tonnage of the ships permitted to cross the
Canal from 40,000 to 60,000 tons.
The completion ofthe Nasser Project would have brought the total excavated
amount of cubic meters to 365 million m 3 (175 millions before the start of the
project and 190 millions during the project itself).
Some 20% of the world tonnage passed yearly through the Canal, of which
70% were oil tankers. Big refineries were built west of Port Ibrahim at the Gulf of
Suez outlet; already in 1936 Gruvel complained ab out the deleterious effects of
the oll pollution.
The Suez Canal was closed several times during armed conflicts in the area.
During the fighting of 1915 navigation was interrupted for only a few days. In the
Second World War, the interruption was for 76 days. This increased to several
months after the 1956 crisis. After June 1967 the trafik was shut down, to be
started again only in 1975. From December 1973 to May 1974 a compact dam,
built from one shore to the other slightly north of the outlet of the Canal into the
Great Bitter Lake, interfered with the free flow of water through the Canal. By
April 1975 the Canal was cleared of all obstacles and in June 1975 it was reopened
to navigation.
From information presently available it does not seem that the long period of
interruption in the dredgings along the Canal basically changed any of its biologically significant topographical features. Lack of dredging, decrease in turbidity