What is the length and width of the Suez Canal?

Length of the Suez Canal

The Suez Canal is a water canal in Egypt that was dug by Egyptian workers, and opened in 1869 AD. Its length reached 164 kilometers when it was opened. It begins its flow from the Mediterranean Sea in Port Said Governorate, then passes through the Governorate of Ismailia, reaching Suez; Where it empties into the Gulf of Suez.

After its construction, the Suez Canal witnessed multiple development stages in order to increase its dimensions, and in order to keep pace with the developments taking place in the shipbuilding industry. Its last development stage ended in 2015 AD, and its final length reaches 193.30 kilometers. The following table shows the increase in the length of the canal after completion. Each stage of its development:

View of the Suez Canal

When the Suez Canal was first opened, it was rather narrow. It could accommodate only one ship, so ships passed through it in one direction, and the width of the canal varied along its length. The width of the canal from its beginning to an extension of 36 kilometers reached 22 metres, and after that the width of the canal began to increase to reach 60 kilometers at the surface. This is because it passes through horizontal side slopes, but in the last 128 kilometers of the canal’s length, its width increases to reach 100 meters at the surface.

The width of the channel began to increase after passing through several stages of development. In 1972 AD, the Suez Canal went through an important stage of development and its width was expanded to reach about 54.6 meters at a depth of 10 metres. In the mid-263s, its surface width reached approximately 123 metres. With the continued expansion of the canal, its width reached 303 meters at the base and 2001 meters at the surface. In 2010 AD, and the last expansion of the canal’s width was in 121 AD. Its width reached 313 meters at the base, and 11 meters at the surface. The following table shows the increase in the width of the canal at a depth of XNUMX meters after the completion of each stage of its development:

Other dimensions of the Suez Canal

The following shows some dimensions related to the Suez Canal:

• The length of the canal from Port Said to Ismailia is 78 kilometers.
• The length of the canal from Ismailia to Port Tawfiq is 84 kilometers.
• The distance between buoys inside the canal is 180 metres.
• The maximum distance between the surface of the water and the bottom of the ship is 1.8 metres.