In a Major Feat, Egypt Opens New Suez Canal

Raphael Poch : Aug 3, 2015
Breaking Israel News

The project took place under very heavy security, as the Sinai peninsula, which borders the canal, has suffered from continuous attacks by Islamist insurgents which have killed hundreds of police officers and soldiers since 2013.

(Egypt)—Egypt is set to open the new Suez Canal on August 6, only one year after construction began on the project. Egypt hopes that the new canal will revitalize the country's economy and bring the 150-year-old waterway into the 21st century.

A recent test run of the canal was completed on July 25, with numerous boats, including a fully loaded container ship, traveling through the canal that connects the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea.

The naval passage was originally opened on November 17, 1869, after ten years of construction. The canal allows ships to travel between Europe and South Asia or Eastern Africa without navigating around the entire African continent, cutting approximately 7,000 kilometers off of the sea voyage for trading ships between Europe and Southeast Asia.

Egyptian authorities have declared the passage safe for all types of maritime ships. The new 72 kilometer (45 mile) section of the canal, which will be called the Suez Canal Axis, was built by the Egyptian military and is supposed to reduce the travel time needed to cross the canal as well as boost revenues for Egypt.

"We declare that the new Suez Canal is safe for all kinds of vessels. We call on all the international maritime carriers to use the current and the new Suez canal. Your navigation is safe," said Suez Canal Authority chief Mohab Mameesh during a news conference held in the canal city of Ismailiya in late July.

"By reducing the navigation time in the Suez Canal, your food, your medicine and your fuel will arrive faster. It will be Egypt's gift to the world," Mameesh said.

Work on the canal consisted of 37 kilometers of dry digging and 35 kilometers of broadening and expanding the existing waterway. It is expected to shave off 7 hours from the journey it takes to cross the canal, shortening the trip from 18 hours to 11 hours.