A year ago I visted the Panama Canal (see my posts, starting with Panama). Although the Frenchman, Ferdinand de Lesseps, started the Panama Canal it was America that finished it. De Lesseps had previously achieved fame through the building of the Suez Canal, which had been a huge commercial success (although a large number of men lost their lives during construction). So I was keen to see the Suez Canal.
The Suez Canal links the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, saving almost ten thousand miles compared with the journey round the Cape of Good Hope. There are no locks - it's a sea-level canal, the longest such in the world and the third longest canal of any type. In the south, Suez marks the start of the waterway heading north through the Bitter Lakes, using as much natural formation as possible. North of Qantara, the long, artificial 'cut' extends to the Mediterranean at Port Said. Although the channels are being widened to accommodate simultaneous bi-directional movements, at present traffic is one way at a time.
We left Cairo heading east for Suez. It took some time to shake off the city - of the 75 million (and rising) inhabitants of Egypt, 20 million of them are in Cairo. Having left Cairo, we came to massive new housing developments - tall apartments reminiscent of southern China. This is New Cairo, very much 'a work in progress'. A myriad high-voltage pylon routes run parallel to the road. Comprehensive electrification of the country has taken place, presumably in the wake of the controversial hydro-electric project at Aswan.
The wide dual-carriageway passes through arid desert. It’s not the smooth, rolling dunes you might picture but a pock-marked landscape looking as if a mighty army of moles have been at work.
Road discipline in Egypt is, to say the least, unusual. On this 2-lane dual carriageway, traffic travels in either lane at any speed, overtaking or undertaking as convenient or swerving from lane to lane to make better progress. It’s not for the faint-hearted. There’s an almost continuous procession of heavy six-wheel lorries, each invariably towing a massive six-wheel trailer.
Eventually we come to the industrialised city of Suez. Egypt is self-sufficient in oil and Suez is the location for one of the refineries. The massive refinery site seems to have at least three fractionating columns for distilling petrol – not particularly modern-looking plant but clearly effective since petrol is very cheap in Egypt. We don’t go into the city proper but park near the Stadium overlooking the Gulf of Suez. The sun is bright but the wind off the water keeps the temperature down. After a few photographs of the Gulf, we set off north by road, passing through a rather depressing area of multi-storey apartments and crossing the railway near the refinery sidings.
Once again, the signs of modernisation accompany us, in the form of a number of medium-voltage overhead power lines. It's not just power; each community has a massive water tower assuring water supplies and there’s evidence of major drainage schemes as well. Frequent radio towers testify to a developed communications system. There are also cellphone masts – Egyptians seem to be addicted to mobile ‘phones as much as the rest of the world. The most unlikely buildings sport satellite dishes for television reception. Egypt has certainly made great strides in developing a modern infrastructure. However, when you look at any of the local buildings, they tend to be in a state of amateur lack of completion – a sort of ‘anything goes’ philosophy common in the third world. Even the least-complete dwellings, where you would imagine nobody yet lives, seem to have satellite dishes. Presumably the tenants consider a television service is more of a priority than, say, doors and windows. Something of this philosophy extends to road vehicles as well. Many are so battered that it seems improbable that they’re able to move at all.
From the road, we can see the railway paralleling our course on our right. I’ll refrain, with some difficulty, from discussing the lower-quadrant semaphore signalling still in use. Click for railway pictures.
The Bitter Lakes are further east and not visible. We’re back in the desert but irrigation means there’s a lot more green than on the first leg of our trip from Cairo to Suez. About 15km out of Suez, we pass the road junction leading to the Ahmed Hamdi tunnel under the Canal. Egypt only holds a narrow strip of land on the east of the Bitter Lakes, then you’re into Israel. The road tunnel provides the most direct route from Cairo to Israel. Egypt keeps careful watch on its neighbour to the east. We pass one large military compound with a large radar aerial pointing east, presumably on the lookout for attacking Israeli jet aircraft. We continue north, passing through the outskirts of Ismailiya. Modern bridges carry us over a wide irrigation canal and a double-track railway line.
Further on, we make a stop at a café with a large garden area. There’s a special room where one of the young waiters in jeans and T-shirt has a large stock of waterpipes which he prepares as ordered by customers. The ‘sheesha’ (which I learn is its correct name) is an integral part of Egyptian café life. I just have a cup of tea (Yellow Label tea bag, no milk but with sugar and in a polystyrene cup – the Egyptian way). There’s another road crossing into Israel at the Ferdan Suspension Bridge over the Canal. The road to Port Said passes under the bridge approach road which is carried on improbable-looking tall concrete piers.
Then, we see our first ship on the Canal, looking as if it’s sailing across farm land – the canal itself is out-of-sight. Ships are heading north at present. Click for ship pictures. Before we come to the next ship in the northbound convoy, we pass a passenger train from Port Said heading south. The next ship is the ‘Maersk Tukang’, with the hull in the characteristic pale blue colour of the Maersk Line and triple-decker containers on deck. This ship is followed by a black-hulled Hanjin Line vessel, also with three layers of container on deck. The following green-hulled China Shipping Lines vessel has containers stacked on deck seven high in places! I know there's a lot of weight inside the hull from the containers loaded in the hold, but it all looks very top-heavy. Further north, there's another Maersk Line vessel which appears to be called 'Sealand Slings' with container stacks 6-high in places. The 'Nedlloyd Drake' only balances the deck containers three high. Two more high voltage power lines march towards us from the west and continue on the east bank but they're not carried over the canal on tall pylons as is often the case. Instead, elaborate switchyards near the shore on either bank suggest an underwater cable connection.
As we approach Port Said, the city's maritime nature is announced by a tough-looking motor cruiser beached in a wave of concrete at the side of the road. We turn off the main road and head for the docks. Port Said is an important container-handling port and more container cranes are visible on the other side of the canal at Port Fouad. On our side, the modern ocean-going tug 'Oil Traveller' is moored. Symbols painted on the hull indicate that she's fitted with Bow Thrusters for improved manoevreability. There's a rather nice little building in the middle of the road junction near the entrance to the docks - I presume it's a disused port security office. Modern security is provided by an elevated watchtower with a single guard of the type that proliferate all over the country. A few more photographs and it's time to set off back towards Ismailia.
The first vessel we see as we set off for the south is the 'Hanjin Paris' which we spotted on the way in, followed by 'Maersk Tukang'. Behind her is green-hulled 'CSAV MARUMBI'. Apparently, the shipping line is called 'CSAV' but I've no idea where the Marumbi comes from. 'Rickmers Doha' is next, grey painted with only a couple of containers on deck but she sprouts a variety of derricks and deck cranes so that she can load and off-load her own cargo. A non-container ship follows, fitted with four deck cranes. For some reason, two of the massive hatch covers are partly open. 'Lissa Topic' follows - again non-container and with four deck cranes. The next vessel (with two deck cranes) has a remarkable deck cargo - lots of blades for big wind turbines. The next vessel is even more extraordinary. As far as I can see, it's moored off the main channel and appears to be an engineering vessel. There are two vertical piles at the rear which can be jacked down, presumably to hold the vessel firm when working. There are two deck cranes, of different types plus a massive girder framework extending from the bow with cables extending into the canal. It seems likely that this is an excavator bucket for dredging.
The bigger cities form 'Governorates' for administrative purposes. At the boundary of Port Said Governorate, some distance from the city, we pass through a highly-decorated toll gate. Travelling in this direction, I spot signs of an earlier accident. Something has hit one of the concrete supporting pillars and, insufficiently reinforced, it has crumbled, allowing the roof structure to partially collapse. The whole mess has been shored up with wooden scaffolding and life goes on.
We continue and, near Ismailia, take the direct road to Cairo. As we get nearer to Cairo, I'm surprised at how much industry there is. A lot of the factories are modern, large and in the heavy heavy engineering sector. I'm told that Russians have make significant purchases of Egyptian industry.
Our route takes us past the airport and into the city. This time, the traffic is heavy and progress is a lot slower. For a while, an elderly tram system shares our route.
Back at the Conrad, the Executive Lounge is fairly busy with people having drinks and eating the light meal on offer. Having enjoyed a snack, I buckle down to the first version of this blog and an early night - I've to be up early in the morning!
[Re-issued with additions on 10th, 11th, 12th and 28th March 2009]
