Friday, April 3 and Saturday, April
4, 2015
The Suez Canal is an artificial
sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red
Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10
years of construction, it allows ships to travel between Europe and eastern
Asia without navigating around Africa thereby reducing the sea voyage distance
between Europe and India by about 4,300 miles.
The canal is owned and maintained by
the Suez Canal Authority of Egypt. Under
international treaty, it may be used "in time of war as in time of peace,
by every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag".
Normally, passage in the Suez was both Northbound and
Southbound with the convoys passing simultaneously. The Suez Canal is approximately 120 miles in
length. At the present time, convoys are
only transiting one way at a time. With
the significant engineering and dredging works currently being undertaken,
transit delays are being experienced with some ships waiting 30 plus hours for
their time slot. Our Captain decided to
move our transit up one day, arrive earlier than scheduled and anchor in order
to be available to take advantage of the first available Northbound
convoy. It was necessary to reach our
anchorage point by 11am in order to register for the Northbound convoy that
would begin to transit the Suez Canal.
We were given a 3pm commence transit time and spot #30. Being 7 miles from the entrance it took a while
to actually enter the canal and approximately 12 hours to complete the transit. That means most of the transit was done
during the night, much to the disappointment of many passengers.
Exiting the canal at Port Said,
Egypt in the early morning hours of April 4 and entering the Mediterranean Sea,
we proceed to our next port of call, Valletta, Malta.
