120 miles on the Suez Canal

Last night we gathered at the north end of the Red Sea to wait our turn to enter the canal. At 4 am we started our trip through with a convoy of 35 other ships. It takes 12 hours to traverse the canal.

The Egyptians, with the help of China and the UAE, are building a city and industrial plant on the east bank of the Suez Canal. It will house 350,000 people and cost $14 billion.

The world‘s largest railroad swinging bridge. There are also 5 tunnels with roads that go underneath the canal.

The canal took 11 years to build and was opened in 1869. It is owned and operated by the Egyptians. It was originally operated by the company of stockholders who invested the money to build it. The Egyptians did not begin operating it until Nasser nationalized the company in the 1950’s. Nasser closed the canal to the Israelis and after the 6 day war, it was closed for 8 years. In 2015, the canal was widened, allowing for 2 lane traffic part of the way through. When it was built, it cut off 32 days from the shipping time of goods from the Orient to Europe.

I spend a lot of time reading!