Facts about Egypt’s ‘new Suez canal’

Its early shareholders were mostly French and British, until President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the crossing in 1956.

Egypt would again sell dollar-denominated bonds this year, he said.

The Egyptian president Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi will give the start signal for the new project in the presence of several heads of states and governments including Russian Federation, France, Cyprus, Iraq, Togo, Equatorial Guinea, South Sudan, Djibouti, United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Lebanon.

For Egypt’s military-backed government, the completion of the project at lighting speed offers a chance to project an image of competence, prosperity, and stability after years of unrest following the 2011 uprising that unseated president Hosni Mubarak.

While on the canal, the boats glide past a grand staging area set up with large white-tented stages ready for the new channel’s inauguration, surrounded by palm trees that have been flown in to dot the sandy landscape.

Egypt has complemented the launch of a two-way traffic system through the Suez Canal on 6 August by announcing infrastructure plans to support a proposed economic zone along the canal.

It took one year to dig the new canal, with a cost of some $8,5billions. Next to it is a detailed rendering of a dove flying out of a pair of hands, accompanied by a picture of Egyptian soldiers in battle, surrounded by Egyptian flags as fighter planes fly aloft.

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 Egyptian government now forecasts an unprecedented upswing for the deteriorating economy.

Swifter transport and increased use at the Panama Canal could boost traffic at B.C. ports because ships that leave China and go through the Panama Canal nearly always stop at ports along North America’s west coast, McGavin said.

The Panama Canal expansion, which is expected to be complete next year, is the canal project that is likely to have a much bigger effect on the B.C. economy, said Vancouver-based shipping industry expert Paul McGavin, who is also president of the freight transportation arrangement company Equinox Marine Inc. These will all be built on the island that has been created between the two routes, and those needing to travel to the mainland will have the old tunnel under the canal and two bridges at their disposal. Egyptian authorities hope that the industrial center as well as the shipping lines will eventually make up one-third of the Egyptian economy.