According to the Global Network, after 5 hours of stranding, the Singapore-flagged "Affiniti" cruise ship has successfully set sail, and the Suez Canal has also resumed navigation.
Compared with last year's "Long Gift", this time can only be regarded as a small accident. In March 2021, the giant freighter Changzhi from Taiwan Province of China was stuck in the Suez Canal due to weather conditions, causing serious waterway blockages, and the Egyptian government dug with a small excavator for nearly a week to clear the canal.
The Suez Canal was built in 1869 and today has a water surface width of between 280 and 350 meters, with an average channel width of only 130 meters. In the era when navigation was just beginning, this width was completely sufficient, but more than a hundred years later, the volume of freighters has become larger and larger, especially the gold-class container ship "Changzhi", which can only go straight through the canal, and there is no room for turning.
Some people wonder, since the ship is so laborious to pass, wouldn't it be better to widen the channel? In fact, the Suez Canal has been widened several times, and when it was just completed, the width of the river was only 22 meters, and it was possible to pass a kayak, and now it has been widened to more than ten times the original.
The problem is that widening the course is not a one-size-fits-all affair. After Egypt spent $8 billion to widen the Suez Canal in 2015, the annual toll revenue increased by only 300 million, excluding the damage to the environment.
Last year, the Egyptian government again announced the widening of the canal's southern end waterway, which is expected to be completed in July 2023. By then, general aviation efficiency is expected to increase by 28 percent.
On the map, the Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, becoming a major transportation route connecting the three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe. If the canals strike, ships traveling between Europe and Asia will have to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost tip of Africa, which is costly and time-consuming.
Until the Arctic route was officially opened, the role of the Suez Canal was irreplaceable. Therefore, whether it can be properly navigated is related to the security of the world's maritime trade, and it will inevitably be involved in the geopolitical struggle of the surrounding regional powers.
The Suez Canal was originally built by Egyptians and French industrialists, and soon after its completion it was controlled by the British. In 1956, then-Egyptian President Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal, reclaimed the British and French occupations, and banned Israeli ships from passing, leading the three countries to join hands to go to war against Egypt, and the second Middle East war broke out.
In the end, Britain and France won a military victory, but with the intervention of the two superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union, Egypt won a political victory and won full sovereignty over the Suez Canal. The war was also seen as the complete decline of British hegemony.
In 1967, Egypt signed mutual defense agreements with Syria and Jordan to counter Israel, the common enemy of the Arab world. Immediately afterward, Egypt announced the closure of the Strait of Tiran and the prohibition of the passage of Israeli ships.
Since its founding, Israel has been blacklisted by Egypt for the Suez Canal. But if the Strait of Tiran were to become unusable, 90 percent of Israel's oil trade would have to go around the Cape of Good Hope line.
Feeling threatened, Israel decided to preemptively launch an attack on the three Arab countries, and the third Middle East war broke out. Less than a week after anyone thought, the Arab coalition was beaten at the speed of light, and Israel not only occupied the entire West Bank, but also controlled the Sinai Peninsula.
In this way, Israel not only gained control of the Strait of Tiran, but also shared the Suez Canal with Egypt. In a hurry, Nasser announced the closure of the Suez Canal, and I would rather not earn the aisle fee than let you use it.
In this way, the Egyptian and Israeli sides began a long confrontation, and from time to time they fought a war. By 1973, Egypt was no longer able to afford to hold on, so it was determined to fight a war and start a fourth Middle East war.
Despite some victories in the early stages of the war, Egypt eventually lost, and the Israeli army even pushed the front to only 100 kilometers from Cairo, and if it were not for the pressure of the international community, it might have been close to the Egyptian capital.
After this battle, Egypt no longer had the courage to confront Israel, and relations between the two countries gradually eased. In 1975, the Suez Canal, which had been closed for 8 years, was opened again, and the ships that were trapped here were finally rescued and returned to their hometowns, which was really not easy.
Today, with the continuous development of global trade, the Suez Canal has become an important transportation hub for Asia-Europe trade, carrying nearly 5% of the world's crude oil and 8% of natural gas transportation.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, nord Stream 1 repeatedly cut off supply to Europe for various reasons, and before the new natural gas pipeline was built, many European countries had to buy expensive liquefied natural gas from third countries and transport it through the Suez Canal.
It is foreseeable that at a time when Relations between Russia and Europe are becoming increasingly tense, once the Suez Canal is suspended, Europe's future life will be even more difficult.