The Suez Canal: Opening, Length, Ownership and the Red Sea Crisis
The Suez Canal opened on 17 November 1869 after ten years of digging by de Lesseps's company. It runs 193.3 km through Egypt from Port Said to Suez and has been Egyptian since 1956.
The Suez Canal opened on 17 November 1869, ten years after digging began on 25 April 1859. It was built by the Suez Canal Company, founded by the French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps. It runs through Egypt from Port Said on the Mediterranean to the city of Suez on the Red Sea and separates Sinai from Africa. It was 164 km long at opening and measures 193.3 km today.[25] It has belonged to the Egyptian state since 1956 and is operated by the state's Suez Canal Authority (SCA).[1][2] There are no locks, because the two seas meet at sea level. The story starts with a French diplomat's friendship in Egypt and has reached, for now, a security problem at the southern end of the Red Sea.
A Diplomat and a Viceroy
In the 1850s ships bound from Europe to India went round the Cape of Good Hope. The idea of shortening that route was old. Pharaohs and Ptolemies had dug waterways from the Nile to the Red Sea, and the last of them silted up in the 8th century.[1] What nobody had yet secured was permission and money for a direct cut between the two seas.
Ferdinand de Lesseps had no engineering training. He was a French diplomat who had served in Egypt in the 1830s and had become friendly with Said, a son of Muhammad Ali. When Said became viceroy in 1854, de Lesseps came back to Cairo. He obtained a first concession on 30 November 1854 and a second, with 23 articles, on 5 January 1856. The company could run the canal for 99 years from the day it opened, and Egypt would take 15% of net profit each year.[1][2]
Two obstacles remained. Egypt was legally an Ottoman province and Istanbul had not approved the concession. Britain was opposed as well, because it regarded the Cape route to India as its own. Lord Palmerston argued openly that an open canal would weaken Britain's commercial and maritime advantage.[2] De Lesseps found his money in France. Shares went on sale at 500 francs in November 1857, 207,229 of the 400,000 were bought, and the company was formed in December 1858 with 200 million francs of capital.[1][3]
Ten Years of Digging
Work began on 25 April 1859 on the beach that became Port Said. The Egyptian government ordered a halt that June, de Lesseps ignored it, and in October he won the backing of Napoleon III.[3] For the first years the earth was moved by Egyptian peasants on the corvée, conscripted from their villages and working with baskets and hand tools. How many died is still argued over. Nasser used the figure of 120,000 in 1956, while the company's chief doctor reported a death rate of no more than 2.49 per thousand for 1866. Later estimates run to a few thousand or even fewer than a thousand, and none rests on a proper count.[2]
Said died in January 1863, Ismail succeeded him, and Istanbul demanded a suspension. The dispute went to Napoleon III as arbitrator. Under his 1864 ruling the company gave up the fresh-water canal and 60,000 hectares of irrigable land and stopped using peasant labour on the works, while Egypt paid compensation.[3][4] Steam dredgers took the place of the labourers. The Sultan did not ratify the concession until 19 March 1866.[3]
Mediterranean water had reached Lake Timsah in November 1862, and the two seas met on 18 August 1869. In all 74 million cubic metres of earth had been moved, at a cost of 433 million francs, about double the first estimate.[1]
The Opening Week
The ceremonies began at Port Said in the middle of November 1869. Khedive Ismail received about 6,000 guests, and by the Authority's account the event cost him about 1.5 million Egyptian pounds. On 17 November the French imperial yacht L'Aigle entered the canal with Empress Eugénie on board and the procession lined up behind her.[1]
The first day of the convoy went wrong. The French vessel Péluse grounded at the entrance to Lake Timsah and blocked the way, and most of the ships had to anchor in the cut. George Nares, commanding HMS Newport, sent a boat to take soundings and worked his ship round the obstruction into the lake. He later surveyed the canal for the Admiralty.[2] Accounts differ on which ship went through first. L'Aigle officially headed the procession, while the biography of Nares says Newport slipped through the waiting ships the night before and was ahead of her at dawn. He was officially reprimanded for it and unofficially thanked by the Admiralty.[26]
The canal of 1869 was much narrower and shallower than today's, had a single lane and did not allow night transits until 1887.[1] The remaining works finished in 1871, traffic stayed below expectations for two years and the company ran into financial trouble.[2] Even so, the voyage from London to the Arabian Sea had become about 8,900 km shorter. Steamers gained most, since sailing ships still had to fight the Red Sea winds. Coal bunkering moved with the route, and Port Said turned into a bunkering port.[2]
Britain's Stake and the Constantinople Convention
Ismail's debts kept growing. In 1875 he sold his roughly 44% holding, 176,602 shares, to the British government for about £4 million in a purchase handled by Benjamin Disraeli.[1][2] The country that had fought the canal became one of its largest shareholders, although the majority stayed in French hands.
In 1882 the Urabi revolt broke out in Egypt. British troops occupied the country, seized the company's installations and transits stopped for a while.[1] After the occupation the question of who could use the canal became an international one. Nine parties signed the Constantinople Convention on 29 October 1888, under which the canal is open to every merchant ship and warship, in war and in peace, without distinction of flag. The canal's transit regime still rests on it.[1][2]
Nationalisation and the 1956 Crisis
By 1956 the concession had twelve years left. Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt's leader, was counting on American and British money for the Aswan Dam on the Nile. His recognition of the People's Republic of China in May angered Washington, and the Eisenhower administration withdrew its support on 19 July. A week later, on the evening of 26 July, Nasser told a crowd in Alexandria that he had nationalised the canal company. The words "Ferdinand de Lesseps" in his speech were the signal for the units waiting to take over the canal. The dam, he said, would be paid for with canal revenue.[5]
Foreign pilots walked out in September, and between 16 and 19 September Egyptian pilots took between 32 and 36 ships a day through the canal.[1] Anthony Eden, under pressure from his own party, moved towards force. Between 22 and 24 October Britain, France and Israel made a secret agreement at Sèvres in France. Israel would enter Sinai, Britain and France would call on both sides to pull back from the canal, and when that was refused they would intervene.[5]
Israel attacked on 29 October, the ultimatum followed the next day and the bombing began 13 hours later. British paratroopers dropped on Port Said on 5 November and Royal Marines landed on the morning of the 6th. Egypt closed the canal by sinking ships in it.[1][5]
Washington decided the outcome. Eisenhower told his Treasury Secretary to prepare to sell part of the government's sterling bonds, and Harold Macmillan warned Eden that British reserves could not take the strain. Eden announced a ceasefire on 6 November. A United Nations emergency force moved in, the Anglo-French force was out by 22 December and Israel left Sinai in March 1957. Eden resigned on 9 January 1957.[5] The wrecks were cleared and, by the SCA's record, the canal reopened on 29 March 1957. Egypt finished paying the old shareholders 28.3 million Egyptian pounds on 1 January 1963.[1]
The Yellow Fleet and Eight Years Shut
The Six-Day War began on 5 June 1967 and Egypt closed the canal at once. The Israeli army took Sinai and reached the east bank, and the canal became the front line between two armies. Fifteen cargo ships inside it could not get out. Fourteen anchored in the Great Bitter Lake and one in Lake Timsah. They flew eight flags, desert sand settled on their decks over the years, and they became known as the Yellow Fleet.[2][6]
The crews formed the Great Bitter Lake Association in October 1967. They raced lifeboats between the ships, held their own games during the 1968 Mexico Olympics and made hand-drawn stamps that later became collectors' items. The ships were still there during the 1973 war, in which African Glen was sunk.[6] After that war Egypt and Israel signed disengagement agreements. The canal was cleared of mines in 1974 and 1975 with American and British help, and Anwar Sadat reopened it exactly eight years after the closure, on 5 June 1975. Two German ships, Münsterland and Nordwind, reached Hamburg under their own power after leaving on 24 May 1975. Münsterland's voyage had taken eight years, three months and five days.[2][6]
Dimensions and the 2015 Expansion
The world fleet had grown during the closure and tankers had been designed for the Cape, so the canal was enlarged to catch up. The Timsah and Port Said bypasses came into service in 1980.[1] The next big change came under Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. A project begun in 2014 extended the Ballah branch by 35 km, with the aim of raising capacity from 49 to 97 ships a day. It cost 59.4 billion Egyptian pounds, about $9 billion, financed by interest-bearing certificates sold to Egyptian institutions and individuals, and the new branch opened on 6 August 2015.[1][2] The Authority's current figures are below.[7]
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Overall length | 193.3 km |
| Two-way section (bypasses) | 113.3 km |
| Width at 11 m depth | 205 to 225 m |
| Maximum water depth | 24 m |
| Maximum permitted draught | 66 ft (about 20.1 m) |
| Largest laden ship in the Authority's table | 240,000 DWT |
The Ever Given Grounding
Ever Given was a 400-metre container ship of about 20,000 TEU, owned by Japan's Shoei Kisen Kaisha, chartered to Evergreen of Taiwan, flagged in Panama and crewed by Indians. In March 2021 she was on her way from Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia to Rotterdam and had been through the canal 22 times before.[8]
On the morning of 23 March she lay at anchor south of the canal as the wind rose. According to the report by the Panama Maritime Authority, gusts reached 35 knots and she dragged her anchor. The master told port control that he wanted to move somewhere safer and was told to hold position, because a convoy was forming and a pilot was on the way. The first pilot boarded, two SCA pilots joined about 90 minutes later, and she entered the canal fifth in the northbound convoy.[9]
Inside the canal the wind strengthened and blowing sand cut the visibility. The report puts the permitted speed at 8.64 knots and Ever Given's speed at 12 to 13, because the pilots had asked for more power to keep her steering. Hard port and hard starboard orders followed each other and the master twice stepped in to have the rudder put amidships.[9] At about 07:38 the helmsman reported that she had stopped turning to port and was starting to swing to starboard. She was close to the port bank and doing 13 knots. The pilot ordered 20 degrees of port rudder and then hard to port. The two pilots spoke to each other in Arabic, the engine went to half ahead and then back to full, and the bridge team could not follow what was being said. The swing continued. At 07:41 she ran into the eastern bank at about 12 knots, at kilometre 151, in the single-lane section about 10 km from Suez. Her bow dug into the east bank, her stern into the west, and the canal was shut.[8][10]
The SCA suspended navigation on 25 March and Smit, part of Boskalis, was brought in for the salvage. Dredgers took the sand from under the bow and tugs pulled on each high tide. She moved 17 metres on the evening of the 27th, and ALP Guard, with 285 tonnes of bollard pull, arrived on the 28th. The stern came free at 04:30 on 29 March, the 153-tonne Carlo Magno joined, and at 15:05 the whole ship floated. The canal reopened at 19:00. More than 400 ships were queuing and the backlog was gone by 3 April. Lloyd's List estimated the delayed goods at about $400 million an hour. Livestock carriers in the queue held about 130,000 sheep, and Romania and Spain suspended livestock loading for a time.[8]
The legal side took longer. A court in Ismailia seized the ship on 13 April. The SCA first claimed more than $916 million and cut that to $600 million in May. She was released on 7 July and sailed on 12 July, with the settlement reported at $540 million.[8] Blame stayed divided. SCA chairman Osama Rabie said weather was not the main cause. Panama's report, made public in 2023, listed speed, bank and squat effects and the language problem between pilots and bridge team, criticised the failure to call for tugs and pointed out that under canal rules the master keeps command at all times.[8][9][10]
The Red Sea Attacks and the Cape Route
In 2023 about 26,000 ships used the canal, carrying an estimated 22% of world seaborne container trade.[11] War broke out in Gaza in October 2023. The Houthis, who hold much of Yemen's Red Sea coast, said they would attack ships they linked to Israel, and on 19 November 2023 they seized Galaxy Leader. Her 25 crew were not freed until January 2025.[12][13] The attacks spread to Bab el-Mandeb and the big container lines began diverting in December 2023. By the first half of February 2024 container tonnage through the canal was down 82%.[11]
Rubymar was the first ship lost. Carrying fertiliser from the UAE to Bulgaria, she was hit by a missile on 18 February 2024, drifted for weeks and sank on 2 March.[14] On 6 March a missile hit True Confidence off Aden and killed three seafarers.[15] Three more Greek-owned ships went down in the following months. The 11 captive crew of one of them, Eternity C, were released on 3 December 2025.[13]
The canal itself never closed. Most ships simply stayed away because of the risk at the southern end. Transits fell from over 26,000 in 2023 to about 13,200 in 2024, and daily traffic through Bab el-Mandeb fell from about 75 ships to 31.[13][16] Revenue went from a record $10.2 billion in 2023 to $3.9 billion in 2024 and about $4.1 billion in 2025. On 4 May 2026 President Sisi put the total loss at about $10 billion.[17][18]
Canal Traffic in 2026
The Gaza ceasefire of October 2025 stopped the attacks and the lines started planning their return.[13] Gemini, the Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd partnership, moved its ME11 service back at the start of February 2026. It did not last. Maersk sent selected sailings back round the Cape on 27 February, and on 28 February American and Israeli strikes on Iran began.[12][17] The war effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, and Saudi Arabia began loading more of its oil at Yanbu on the Red Sea. Those tankers became the canal's new customers. In July 2026, 1,340 ships transited, 526 of them oil tankers, and monthly revenue of $505 million was the highest since December 2023.[18][19] The risks of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea were now tied together.
New tension built in the Red Sea that same summer. In July 2026 the Houthis declared a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping. An attack on a cargo ship in Bab el-Mandeb in August killed at least six people. On 24 August the Bahri tanker Amzan was hit about 63 nautical miles west of Yanbu, and her crew were unhurt.[19]
The container lines came back regardless. MDS Transmodal counted 196 container ships through the canal in August 2026, with capacity of 1.68 million TEU, 184% up on a year earlier. MSC said on 25 August that it was returning selected East-West services.[16] On 14 September Gemini announced that AE5, AE11, AE12 and ME2 would move to Suez, with Antonia Maersk sailing first from Tanjung Pelepas on 19 September. Both companies made the return conditional on continued stability in the Red Sea.[20]
The most recent picture is in Lloyd's List Intelligence's bulletin of 29 October 2026. In the week of 19 to 25 October, 305 ships of 27.6 million dwt went through, 35% above the weekly average of October 2025. In the four weeks to 25 October, 281 container ships carried about 3 million TEU, against 474 ships and 5.5 million TEU in October 2023. In tonnage terms the canal is 36% and Bab el-Mandeb 46% below pre-crisis levels. The bulletin reports no attacks since 24 August and still rates the threat as substantial.[21]
The accounts point the same way. Revenue rose 23% to $4.67 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, still less than half the record $9.4 billion of 2022/23. Rabie expects $5.8 billion to $6 billion for calendar 2026.[18][22]
The Bunker Sums
What the canal sells to a shipowner is distance, and distance is fuel. Singapore to Rotterdam by way of the Cape adds about 3,500 nautical miles. At 16 knots that is close to nine days, and for a ship burning 100 tonnes a day it comes to roughly 900 tonnes more per voyage. A ship that speeds up to hold her schedule burns more still. UNCTAD calculates that going from 14 to 16 knots on a large container ship raises consumption per mile by 31%, and that emissions on a Singapore to Northern Europe round trip rise by more than 70%.[11] Where to load the fuels described in types of marine fuel had to be worked out again for the same reason.
When the attacks began, demand shifted to the African route. Sales at Mauritius went from 509,837 tonnes in 2023 to 929,043 in 2024.[23] On 21 February 2024 Platts assessed 0.50% sulphur fuel oil at Durban at a $246 per tonne premium to Rotterdam, against an average of $137 since early 2020.[24] As the lines return to Suez that picture reverses, and every change of voyage plan moves the bunkering port too. De Lesseps's second canal project is told in the Panama Canal article.
Frequently asked questions
When did the Suez Canal open?
On 17 November 1869. It runs through Egypt from Port Said to the city of Suez and is about 193.3 km long.
When was the Suez Canal built?
Between 1859 and 1869. Digging began on the shore of the future Port Said on 25 April 1859 and the canal opened on 17 November 1869.
Who built the Suez Canal?
The Suez Canal Company, founded by Ferdinand de Lesseps under a concession from Said Pasha, the ruler of Egypt. Egyptian peasants conscripted for forced labour dug it in the early years, and steam dredgers took over after the 1864 ruling.
When did the first ship pass through the Suez Canal?
On 17 November 1869, when the first convoy entered on opening day, headed by the French imperial yacht L'Aigle. One account has the British ship HMS Newport getting ahead of her the night before.
Where is the Suez Canal and how long is it?
In Egypt, between Port Said on the Mediterranean and Suez on the Red Sea. It is 193.3 km long and has no locks, unlike Panama, because it is at sea level.
Who owns the Suez Canal?
Egypt. The state's Suez Canal Authority has run it since the nationalisation of 26 July 1956.
Is the Suez Canal open now?
Yes. The attacks never closed it, ships diverted because of the risk at the southern end of the Red Sea. At the end of October 2026 weekly traffic was 305 ships, with tonnage 36% below pre-crisis levels.
How long did Ever Given block the Suez Canal?
Six days. She grounded at 07:41 on 23 March 2021, was refloated at 15:05 on 29 March, and the canal reopened that evening.
Sources
- Suez Canal Authority. Canal History.
- Wikipedia. Suez Canal.
- Fondation Napoléon. The Building of the Suez Canal, timeline.
- ICCA. Affaire du Canal de Suez (Compagnie du Canal de Suez, Égypte), 1864.
- Wikipedia. Suez Crisis.
- Wikipedia. Yellow Fleet.
- Suez Canal Authority. Canal Characteristics.
- Wikipedia. 2021 Suez Canal Obstruction.
- gCaptain. Ever Given Report Faults Suez Canal Pilots in Grounding, 2023.
- MarineLink. Ever Given: Captain in Command of the Ship at All Times, 18 July 2023.
- UNCTAD. Navigating Troubled Waters, 22 February 2024.
- gCaptain. Red Sea Comeback Falters as Maersk Diverts Ships Back Around Cape, 27 February 2026.
- Wikipedia. Red Sea Crisis.
- Wikipedia. MV Rubymar.
- Wikipedia. MV True Confidence.
- Portogente. Suez Canal Returns, MDS Transmodal data, 5 September 2026.
- Anadolu Agency. Egypt Incurs $10B in Suez Canal Losses, May 2026.
- Transport Topics. Suez Canal Revenue Rises as Hormuz Crisis Reroutes Ships, 8 September 2026.
- Al Jazeera. Yemen's Houthis Report Attack on Saudi Oil Tanker in Red Sea, 24 August 2026.
- gCaptain. Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd Accelerate Return to Suez, 14 September 2026.
- Lloyd's List Intelligence. Red Sea Brief, 29 October 2026.
- Egyptian Streets. Suez Canal Revenue Rises 23 Percent in the 2025/2026 Fiscal Year, 30 June 2026.
- MarineLink. As Ships Reroute to the Cape, African Bunkering Hubs Benefit, March 2026.
- Hellenic Shipping News. Report on the UNCTAD analysis, 26 February 2024.
