On March 23, 2021, Egyptian Standard Time, a large cargo ship about 400 meters long turned around due to strong winds caused by a sandstorm, causing it to run aground in the Suez Canal and completely block the Suez Canal. Six days later, after hard work, the ship was successfully rescued and the Suez Canal resumed two-way shipping soon after. During this blockage, the Suez Canal Authority lost as much as $14 million to $15 million a day. Compared to the impact on international trade, the loss of this money by the Suez Canal Authority is really a small matter, and the resulting loss of global trade is about $6 billion to $10 billion.
The Suez Canal blockage in 2021
The researchers believe that even a short-term disruption to the Suez Canal will trigger a domino effect that lasts for months throughout the supply chain, with rising transportation costs and delays in the transportation of everyday goods to consumers around the world. Agencies estimate that about 50 ships pass through the Suez Canal, which controls about 12 percent of global trade flows, every day.
At present, among several modes of transportation such as air transportation, land transportation, river transportation, and marine transportation, marine transportation is still the main mode of international cargo transportation, and its transportation volume accounts for more than 80% of the total international cargo transportation. Ocean transportation has the advantages of low freight, strong passing capacity and large cargo volume. In international shipping, there are some canals and straits that have very important strategic value and can be said to have the status of hubs, such as the Suez Canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, the Panama Canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Turkish Strait connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, and so on.
Suez Canal
International canals refer to waterways artificially dug in the territory of a country to connect two seas or oceans, and the Suez Canal, Panama Canal, Kiel Canal, Corinth Canal, etc. belong to international canals. In addition to introducing these canals, this article also introduces canals of significance for international shipping, such as the Danube-Black Sea Canal and the Main-Danube Canal. "Domestic" canals such as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in China, the Erie Canal in the United States, the Moscow and Volga-Don Canal in Russia, the Karakum Grand Canal in Turkmenistan, the Central Canal in Germany and the Manchester Canal in the United Kingdom are not introduced.
Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal
The five seas are navigable
Erie Canal
Central Canal
Karakum Canal
Let's start with the German Kiel Canal (also known as the North Sea-Baltic Canal), which is about 98 kilometers long, with a widest channel width of 162 meters and a narrowest channel width of 102.5 meters. The Kiel Canal runs from the port of Brunsbitel Cork in the southwest to the port of Holtenau in the northeast, across the Jutland Peninsula. The canal was built in 1887, completed in 1895, and has since been continuously expanded and widened to become what it is today.
Kiel Canal
Why did Germany build this canal? The Baltic Sea covers an area of about 420,000 square kilometers, with Denmark, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Russia and other countries along the coast, and the connection between the Baltic Sea and the outside Atlantic Ocean is as follows, ships on the Baltic Sea pass through one of the three straits of the Great Belt, the Little Belt, and the Oresund Strait (Sound Strait), and then enter the Kattegat Strait, then enter the Skagerrak Strait, then enter the North Sea, and then the Atlantic Ocean.
Kiel Canal
Kiel Canal
Baltic Sea
The narrow Oresund Strait (110 km long and 4-28 km wide) between the Danish island of Zealand and southern Sweden is the main passage between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, one of the busiest straits in the world, and why is it the main passage for ships? Because of the depth of the water, it is the deepest waterway in the Baltic Sea. Germany's northern coastline is divided into east and west by Denmark, with the western coast next to the North Sea and the eastern coast next to the Baltic Sea. Ships on Germany's east coast had to go west through the various straits held by Denmark if they wanted to go west. The same goes for the west through the east.
Oresund
If ships from the Baltic countries want to sail into the Atlantic, they basically have to look at the faces of Denmark and Sweden. In modern times, Germany was not unified until 1871, and after German reunification, the digging of canals was put on the agenda. Germany itself occupied the southern part of Jutland, and it was enough to dig a canal directly in the middle, so that warships and merchant ships on the eastern and western coasts of Germany would not have to pass through the straits guarded by Denmark. With the completion of the Kiel Canal, ships traveling between the Baltic Sea and the Atlantic Ocean would no longer have to go around Jutland, saving an average of 460 kilometers of voyage. In 2007, around 43,000 relatively large ships passed through the Kiel Canal, an average of about 118 per day, of which about 60% belonged to Germany.
White Sea-Baltic Canal
When the Germans opened this canal, not only did their own merchant ships and warships no longer have to look at the "face" of Denmark, but they could also earn a large "canal fee", why not? The waterway connecting the Baltic Sea to the outside Atlantic Ocean is the White Sea-Baltic Canal, a canal located in Russia that connects the Baltic Sea near St. Petersburg, Russia, with the White Sea of Russia's inland sea, which is about 227 kilometers long and borrows several rivers and three lakes: Lake Ladoga, Lake Onega and Lake Vigozero.
North Sea
Although digging a canal costs money, but also makes money, it can be said that the canal is connected, gold taels, however, digging a canal is also a very risky thing, a canal built in Greece later became a tourist attraction, and often closed. Between 1881 and 1893, Greece dug the Corinth Canal at the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Corinth, which was only 6.3 kilometers long, but it took a lot of effort to dig the canal.
Corinth isthmus This place is hilly terrain, the thickness of the rock layer is 84 meters, the land is more than 70 meters above sea level, the last canal water surface is 24 meters wide, the bottom width is 21 meters, the canal water depth is about 8 meters, the width above the canal can reach 100-300 meters, from the water surface of the canal to the land above is about 70 meters more, you can imagine how many rocks were dug.
Corinth Canal
Why dig this canal? Athens, the capital of Greece, is located in the east of the Greek mainland, and when it trades with Europe, its ships need to circumnavigate the Peloponnese, about 200 kilometers or more, and the Peloponnese Peninsula is connected to the Greek mainland by a narrow Corinthian isthmus, although this isthmus is more than 70 meters above sea level. However, this canal has a bad fate, because the slope protection on both sides of the bank is too high, about 70 meters to 80 meters or more, landslides are frequent, and there are problems such as the tidal difference in the sea on both sides, so it has been intermittent.
Corinth Canal
Later, large ocean-going ships gradually occupied the mainstream of shipping, and most ships could not pass through the canal with a water width of only 24 meters. It is now a tourist attraction, with about 30 boats passing through the canal every day, most of which are ferries and tourist boats. However, even as a tourist destination, it is often closed, and the sedimentary rocks on both sides of the Corinth Canal are soft and unstable, and some ships pass by because of the limited clearance, "rubbing" the bank wall to form wear on the wall, making the landslide serious. Closures are almost routine for the Corinth Canal, which has been largely in a state of restoration in the months since the Corinth Canal landslide occurred in January 2021. It seems that building a canal is also a risky thing.
Corinth Canal
In addition, built between 1667 and 1694, the French Canal du Midi connected the Garonne River in France, thus connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, and the French ships in the Mediterranean Sea bypassed the important passage of the Strait of Gibraltar out of the Mediterranean, and later, as the tonnage of ships increased, the canal also became a tourist attraction.
Canal du Midi
Canal du Midi
The Danube is the second largest river in Europe and an important shipping channel in Europe, with developed navigation and more than 100 piers along the river, flowing through several European cities, among which Budapest, Belgrade, Vienna, Bratislava are the capitals of Hungary, Serbia, Austria and Slovakia respectively. The 171-kilometre Main-Danube Canal connects the Danube to the Main, an international river in Europe that eventually flows into the North Sea, from Bamberg am Main in the north to Kelheim am Danube in the south.
Danube
Main-Danube Canal
The Danube-Black Sea Canal, which connects the Danube with the Black Sea, runs from Chernavod on the Danube bank in the west and flows into the Black Sea in the Township of Ajija (South Branch) and Navodari (North Branch), which is about 64 kilometers long. The southern route of the canal was only completed in 1984, the total cost of the canal is about $2 billion, and it is estimated that the cost will pay for itself in about 50 years, and it seems that the canal is not very profitable.
Danube-Black Sea Canal
Some people may have questions, the Danube is clearly flowing into the Black Sea, why build a canal? Isn't that redundant? First, the distance can be shortened, and second, the Danube is divided into three tributaries near the city of Turkia, the Kyria, Georgiev and the Sulina, forming an alluvial delta, these three tributaries that flow into the Black Sea are heavily silted, and only the Sulina River has been dredged.
Danube-Black Sea Canal
The 193-kilometer-long Suez Canal can be described as Egypt's "cash cow". In the 21st century, 14% of the world's seaborne trade (accounting for about 12% of global trade), 7% of the world's oil trade, 30% of global containers pass through the Suez Canal, and 80% of the general cargo between Asia and Europe except oil passes through the Suez Canal, and about 25,000 ships pass through the Suez Canal every year. In 2020, the revenue of the Suez Canal was about 5.6 billion US dollars, about 38.6 billion yuan, and the daily "river crossing fees" (ship tolls) of the Suez Canal in Egypt were at least 100 million yuan. Therefore, the "river crossing fee" of the Suez Canal is an important source of Egypt's national revenue and foreign exchange reserves.
Suez Canal
Suez Canal
Around 1874 BC, the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Sinusert III ordered the opening of a canal connecting the Red Sea to the Nile, which was improved, destroyed and rebuilt, opening intermittently until it was abandoned in the 8th century. Suez takes its name from Pharaoh Sinussert III. In 1858, under the auspices of the French diplomat Lesseps, the Suez Canal Company was established, and the company could operate for 99 years from the opening of the canal by leasing the relevant land.
In the beginning, French private investors were the majority shareholders of the company, and Egypt also had a large stake, about 44%. In 1859, the canal was officially excavated, and in 1869, the Suez Canal was officially opened to navigation, during which about 120,000 Egyptian migrant workers died due to poor conditions. In 1875, Britain bought Egypt's stake in the Suez Canal.
Suez Canal
Suez Canal
In 1882, Egypt became a British "protectorate", Britain gained control of the Suez Canal, which became a "cash cow" for Britain and France, and between 1870 and 1930, the net profit of the Suez Canal Company reached 3.5 billion francs, most of which was divided between Britain and France. In 1953, the Republic of Egypt was established, and in 1956, the Egyptian authorities wanted to "nationalize" the Suez Canal, and the seizure of wealth was comparable to the "hatred of taking the wife and killing the father", which naturally caused dissatisfaction between Britain and France, Britain and France united Israel, and the three countries directly began to "besiege" Egypt, and the Suez War broke out in 1956.
Suez Canal
Suez Canal
However, at this time, the "big brother" of the world was no longer Britain and France, but the United States and the Soviet Union, and under the pressure and intimidation of the United States and the former Soviet Union, Britain and France finally obediently withdrew their troops. Why is the Suez Canal so important? Why are there people scrambling? Because it means fuel and time savings for ships traveling between Europe and Asia, the Suez Canal is strategically important by shortening the voyage of about 8,000 to 10,000 kilometers by allowing ships between Asia and Europe to avoid having to go around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.
Suez Canal
Then about the Panama Canal, let's briefly talk about the State of Panama, the indigenous people of Panama are Indians, in 1501 it became a Spanish colony, in 1821, after independence, Panama and Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and other countries formed the Republic of Gran Colombia, in 1830, Venezuela and Ecuador seceded from Gran Colombia, and Panama became a province of Colombia, and in 1903, Panama became independent.
Panama
In the 16th century, when Spain began colonizing the Americas, it wanted to build a canal in the middle of the Americas, and in 1534, King Carlos I of Spain ordered a survey of the Isthmus of Panama. Later, the Spaniards established four alternative sites, a site near the Atrato River in northwestern Colombia, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in southern Mexico, the Isthmus of Panama, and the Isthmus of Nicaragua. After the Latin American War of Independence (1808-1833), Latin American countries became independent from Spain. Because the Isthmus of Panama is the narrowest place in North and South America, the Isthmus of Nicaragua can be used by Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan River, which are the last resort.
Panama canal
After the United States became independent from British colonial rule, its power grew, and in 1823, the then President of the United States, Monroe, established the Monroe Doctrine in a speech in which he declared: "The United States does not interfere in European affairs, and European powers are not allowed to interfere in American affairs." The translation is: "Brothers in Europe, my America is strong, in the future, you cannot bully those brothers in my Americas, they will be bullied by my America in the future." In fact, once the country becomes strong, it will more or less bring some "rogue virtues".
Originally, in the Isthmus of Panama, the United States cooperated with Colombia, and Panama belonged to Colombia at that time, but the domineering and aggressive of the United States made Colombia unbearable at that time, so Colombia set its sights on Europe, and European investors set their sights on a person, French diplomat Lessep. Because of his role in the Suez Canal, after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, Lessep's reputation reached its peak, Britain and France competed to give him various honors, in the eyes of Britain and France, various "awards" are nothing at all, and the Suez Canal brings to both countries every year that is heavy real money.
Reseb
Under the aura of various honors, Lesseb is a little "floating", specifically pride, I personally feel that pride is the mother of failure. In 1879, 74-year-old Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps organized the Panama Ocean Canal Universal Company. In 1881, the construction of the Panama Canal began, the Panama Canal is much shorter than the Suez Canal, in a very floating state Lesseb felt that many lakes on the Isthmus of Panama could be used, just draw a scoop according to the gourd, so he copied the experience of building the Suez Canal and began to build a sea-level canal, and after a few years of repair, he found that the sea level of the Pacific Ocean west of the Isthmus of Panama was not at all consistent with the height of the sea level of the Caribbean Sea to the east, in addition, it was humid and hot, dense jungle, The terrain is complex.
Panama canal
Panama canal
In addition, the Americans also made trouble, before the United States built a Panama railway here, the French side wanted to use this railway to transport materials for the construction of the canal, in this regard, the United States made it difficult in every way, and the French canal company bought the railway at a high price, however, the American employees working on the railway continued to make trouble. Under various factors, by 1889, the French Interoceanic Canal Company had lost a lot of money. Finally, this sea-level canal scheme was replaced by the lock canal scheme.
Panama canal
In this regard, the United States side was happy, the US government successively leveled Britain and France, and the French Canal also agreed to transfer the lease to the United States, but this was approved by Colombia, however, the US government was never able to level the Colombian Congress at that time, the US government was directly anxious, in November 1903, the US army landed in Panama, instigating Panama's independence from Colombia and establishing the Republic of Panama.
Later, the United States signed the Panama Canal Treaty with Panama, which granted the United States the right to "permanently use, occupy, and control the Panama Canal", and then controlled the administration, justice, security, railways, and finances of the canal zone. In 1904, the United States resumed digging of the Panama Canal, which was completed in 1914. On December 31, 1999, Panama recovered all management and defense rights of the Panama Canal, and all U.S. troops withdrew.
Panama canal
In 2011, the toll fee of the Panama Canal was about 1.043 billion US dollars, 2.663 billion US dollars in 2020, 2.968 billion US dollars in 2021, and from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022, about 14,239 ships passed through the Panama Canal, and 5% of the world's international trade goods pass here. In 2021, Panama's GDP totaled $63.6 billion, and it is clear that the Panama Canal is one of the pillars of Panama's economy.
Some of the canals mentioned in this article do not have revenues to the extent that rich countries can be, but the Suez and Panama Canal definitely reach this level. For comparison, the GDP of the Asian country Mongolia in 2021 was about $15 billion, the African country of Madagascar had a GDP of about $14.8 billion in 2021, the Asian country of Bhutan had a GDP of about $2.3 billion in 2020, and the American country of Belize had a GDP of about $1.8 billion in 2021.
Panama canal
Why is the United States so obsessed with the Panama Canal? Like the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal can help ships save fuel and time. With the Panama Canal, ships between the east coast (Atlantic coast) and the west coast (Pacific coast) of the United States do not have to go around Cape Horn, the southernmost point of South America, and other ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans do not have to go around Cape Horn, which is a rough sea, dangerous navigation, strong winds all year round, and a cold climate, which is the dividing line between the Pacific and the Atlantic.
Panama canal
Not only have the voyages between the east and west coasts of the United States been shortened, but also the voyages of ships elsewhere, such as Liverpool in Europe to San Francisco on the west coast of the United States, and the 28% shorter voyage from New York on the east coast of the United States to Sydney, Australia. In the past few decades that the Americans have controlled the Panama Canal, not only have their own ships been convenient, but they can also earn money from other countries.
Panama canal
Through the Panama Canal, the U.S. East Coast to West Coast was reduced by 6,146 miles, to the West Coast of South America by 5,515 miles, and to Asia by 11,471 miles. In the economic development and later rise of the United States, the Panama Canal can be described as "a lot of contribution", which is of great significance to the US economy and military (conducive to the mobilization and deployment of the US Navy), not only making the West Coast of the United States develop faster, but also conducive to the economic exchanges between the East and West of the United States, and more conducive to the commercial exchanges between the United States and Asia.
Panama canal
Some people may say that the United States can use trains, roads, and air exchanges between East and West, and can not use sea transportation, however, no matter in terms of cost and volume, sea freight has a unique advantage, to this day, there are still a large number of American cargo ships passing through the Panama Canal, the United States is still one of the largest customers of Panama Canal crossing fees, the route between the eastern United States and Asia mainly passes through the Panama Canal, and the volume of this route accounts for about one-third of the total traffic of the Panama Canal.
Cairo, Egypt
In terms of the number of cargo ships passing through, the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal and the Kiel Canal are the three major international canals. I haven't found out what the total annual "toll" for the Kiel Canal is, but the annual revenue of the Kiel Canal should be much lower than that of the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal. First of all, for cargo ships, the Kiel Canal is lower than the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal "river crossing fee", for two reasons, first, Germany itself does not expect much money from the Kiel Canal, Germany hopes to develop its coastal and nearby ports through the Kiel Canal industry and tourism and other economies, second, the ships passing through the Kiel Canal are mostly German ships.
In addition, although the number of ships passing through the Kiel Canal is large every year, the total tonnage is not as large as the Suez and Panama Canals, and the ships passing through the Kiel Canal are not so large, many are yachts, in 2019 about 10,000 yachts passed through the Kiel Canal, the Kiel Canal cargo volume in 2019 was 83.48 million tons, the Panama Canal freight volume in 2021 was 516 million tons, and the cargo volume of the Suez Canal in 2021 was 1.27 billion tons. From the data that can be checked so far, the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal are two rich and enemy countries, but the countries that are rich and hostile here are small countries, and in the face of big countries, the "river crossing fees" of the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal are small money.