The Suez Canal; Past, Present, and Future
The Ever Given was stuck in the Suez Canal for nearly a week, and in that week, it became an almost universally loved subject of ridicule. However, the effects that the Ever Given’s mistake had on global shipping and the world economy were no laughing matter. Hundreds and hundreds of ships were delayed; either kept waiting to enter the Suez Canal or being forced to go around the southern tip of Africa in order to avoid the queue at the Suez, which totaled some 369 ships on the day that the Ever Given was finally set free. The resulting delays in shipping from ships Resulting delays in shipping meant that the global economy faced a short slow down. This manifested itself in numerous ways from the products of impulse-driven shopping sprees arriving later than they were supposed to, manufacturing plants not receiving the parts they needed, and even all the way to the Danish government receiving a new high-tech and very expensive passenger ferry much later than they had been counting on.
Of course, the comedic relief has not been the only thing that the silver lining of this international inconvenience produced. The focus on the Suez Canal in the media and online prompted a surge of interest in the history of the canal, Egypt, and international trade. The Suez Canal has long been a point of contention, as it managed to revolutionize international shipping practically the minute it opened in 1869. The canal was considered a joint venture between the France and Britain, in “partnership” with the local Egyptian government, though the importance of the canal to the great powers of Europe meant that “partnership” became more akin to vassalage. Both France and Britain, among others, competed desperately to bring the canal entirely under their control. This desire for control of the canal eventually resulted in the 1956 Suez Crisis; wherein Israel, France, and Britain invaded Egypt with the goal of controlling the canal after Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser had nationalized it. This resulted in Egypt’s defeat militarily, but ultimate success politically, as international pressure on the part of the UN, US, and USSR forced the French, British, and Israeli militaries to withdraw. Over the past 152 years the canal has mostly been open and fully-functioning, except in times of war and conflict such as the Suez crisis and other Arab-Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973.
The next, and possibly greatest, threat to the Suez Canal does not involve an invasion or an attempt to assert colonialist power, but the very ships the canal is meant to serve. As cargo ships get bigger and bigger in order to accommodate more cargo, situations similar to that of the Ever Given are more likely to occur. While it is easy to build a large cargo ship, it is not so easy to expand an old canal. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, the international shipping community will have to face the choice of either limiting the size of their cargo ships, investing a huge sum into modernizing the canal, or simply abandoning the canal altogether. Meaning that the canal, considered so vital to international trade for the last 152 years could be made completely obsolete, and as easily forgotten as an old joke.
Joe Doner - Staff Writer