Two of the World's Great Canals

Henry Srebrnik, [Summerside, PEI] Journal Pioneer

Two of the world’s great maritime powers, Great Britain and the United States, whose commerce and security depended on ocean-going vessels, were responsible for the planet’s two most famous canals, located in Panama and Egypt.

The 77-kilometre long international waterway known as the Panama Canal, completed in 1914, allows ships to pass between the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean, saving 12,875 kilometres from a journey around the southern tip of South America, Cape Horn.

Panama was a part of Colombia but when that country rejected U.S. plans to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama, Washington engineered a revolution that led to the independence of Panama in 1903. Following the Spanish-American War of 1898, the U.S. had become a world power with far-flung possessions in the Caribbean and Pacific and a canal would facilitate trade and defence.

The new Panamanian government authorized the U.S. to build the Panama Canal and allowed American control of a zone eight kilometres wide on either side of it.

The division of the country into two parts by the Panama Canal Zone caused tension throughout the twentieth century, including anti-American riots. In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty which would return 60 per cent of the Canal Zone to Panama in 1979. The treaty also established the canal as a neutral international waterway; even in times of war any vessel is guaranteed safe passage. The canal and remaining territory was returned to Panama on December 31, 1999.

In recent years the amount of cargo shipped worldwide annually has continued to increase, a growth driven in part by rapidly expanding economies in Asia. About five per cent of worldwide shipping traffic passes through the Panama Canal, including nearly 70 per cent of all cargo to and from the U.S.

In 2007, the Panamanian government launched a $5.25 billion, seven-year project to expand and improve the canal. The project is scheduled for completion in time for the canal’s centennial anniversary this coming August.

In November U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden went to Panama to highlight the expansion of the canal and the need to modernize American ports to accommodate the huge cargo ships that by 2015 will pass through the isthmus.

The 193-kilometre long Suez Canal, located in Egypt, provides the shortest sea route between Asia and Europe. It connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Gulf of Suez, a northern branch of the Red Sea, from where ships then proceed onward to the Indian Ocean. The distance between Mumbai and London is roughly 11,450 kilometres using the Suez Canal but 20,000 kilometres taking the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.

In 1858, the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company, owned by French and Egyptian interests, was formed and construction began in 1859. After its opening ten years later, the Suez Canal had a significant impact on world trade as it dramatically reduced transit time worldwide and the Convention of Constantinople in 1888 made the canal available for all ships from any nation.

In 1875, debt forced Egypt to sell its shares in ownership of the Suez Canal to the United Kingdom. For the British, the canal vastly increased trade with their south Asian possessions.

In the 20th century, conflicts began to arise over control of the Suez Canal. In 1936 Britain was given the right to maintain military forces in the Suez Canal Zone and control its entry points. In 1954, Cairo and London signed a seven year contract that allowed Egypt to take control of the former British installations.

In July 1956, however, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, angry that Britain and the U.S. withdrew support for his plan to build the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River, nationalized the canal.
On October 29 of that year, Israel invaded Egypt and two days later Britain and France followed suit.

The aims of the attack were primarily to regain Western control of the canal and to remove Nasser from power. In retaliation, Egypt blocked the canal by intentionally sinking 40 ships. The Suez Canal did not reopen until March 1957 when the sunken ships were removed.

In June 1967, another war between Egypt and Israel again shut the canal. At the end of the war, Egyptian and Israeli forces were stationed on either side of the canal and it remained closed until the end of a second conflict – the Yom Kippur War – and subsequent negotiations. It finally reopened in 1975.

Today, the Suez Canal is operated by the Suez Canal Authority, and the canal handles about eight per cent of the world’s shipping traffic. So far, despite some minor incidents, such as a bomb detonated at a police camp in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia last month, Egypt’s political turmoil has not affected it.

Future plans for the Suez Canal include a project to widen and deepen the canal to accommodate the passage of larger and more ships at one time. Nearly 150 years after its completion, it remains a vital link between Europe and Asia.