Suez Canal
Water
A shortcut for ships between Europe and Asia.
The Suez Canal runs for 193 kilometres through the desert of Egypt, from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Since it opened in 1869, ships no longer have to sail all the way around Africa.
The two seas are at almost the same height, so the canal needs no locks: ships simply sail through, one behind the other. About one in eight of all the goods traded in the world passes this way.
- long
- 193 km
- opened
- 1869
- locks
- 0
- 1
In 2021 a container ship 400 metres long got stuck across the canal. For six days nothing could pass, and hundreds of ships waited.
- 2
Digging it took ten years.
- 3
A voyage from Europe to India is thousands of kilometres shorter through the canal than around Africa.
Question 1 of 2
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