The canal is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, so I was surprised to learn that an average of fifty ships pass through it every day—I would have guessed more. Now that I've actually seen it, though, that number makes sense. It takes about twelve hours to transit the canal, and there are three convoys a day, two going south and one going north. The section of the canal right below Port Said in particular is very narrow, and only one ship can pass at a time. You can see in the picture on the left, entering the canal looks like sailing up a river.
Farther south, the canal splits into two channels (an expansion done in 2016) so that northbound and southbound ships can sail without having to stop to let each other pass. I can't imagine how much planning and coordination is required to get the ships through every day, and you can see why a ship running aground here, like the Ever Given did in 2021, would be such a disaster. There's no room to go around!
The picture on the right shows one of the many tugboats that follow every ship to ensure smooth sailing (and the number two ship in our convoy behind the tug.)
Farther south, the canal splits into two channels (an expansion done in 2016) so that northbound and southbound ships can sail without having to stop to let each other pass. I can't imagine how much planning and coordination is required to get the ships through every day, and you can see why a ship running aground here, like the Ever Given did in 2021, would be such a disaster. There's no room to go around!
The picture on the right shows one of the many tugboats that follow every ship to ensure smooth sailing (and the number two ship in our convoy behind the tug.)
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