What is the dividing line between Asia and Africa?

The Suez Canal is located in Egypt, connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, and connecting the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, greatly shortening the voyage between East and West. Compared with bypassing the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, it is 5500-8009 kilometers shorter from the countries along the Atlantic coast of Europe to the Indian Ocean. Shorten the Mediterranean countries to the Indian Ocean by 8000- 10000 km; For the coast of the Black Sea, shortening 12000 km is an important strategic waterway in international shipping.

The Suez Canal is175km long, with an average width of135m and an average depth of13m. The Suez Canal was dug from 1859 to 1869 and completed. After the opening of the canal, Britain and France monopolized 96% of the shares of Suez Canal Company, making huge profits every year.

Since 1882, Britain has established the largest overseas military base in the canal area, with nearly 65,438+10,000 troops. After World War II, the Egyptian people insisted on recovering the sovereignty of the Suez Canal and made unremitting struggles for it. 1954 10, Britain was forced to agree to completely withdraw its occupation troops from Egyptian territory before June 1956. 1956 On July 26th, the Egyptian government announced that it would nationalize the Suez Canal Company.

1976 65438+ 10, the Egyptian government started the expansion project of the canal. The first phase of the project was completed at 1980, and the navigable waters of the canal were expanded from 1800 square meters to 3,600 meters (that is, the navigable section of the canal); The draft of navigable ships is increased from12.47m to17.9m, which can handle150,000t full cargo ship. The second phase of the project was completed at 1983, the navigable water area was expanded to 5,000 square meters, and the draft of navigable ships was increased to 2 1.98 meters, which can pass through cargo ships with a deadweight of 250,000 tons.

The only cross-sea bridge in Suez Canal "Mubarak Bridge"

Xinhua News Agency reporter Cha Chunming photo

198010125 October, Egypt's first Suez Canal subsea tunnel was opened to traffic, greatly shortening the time to and from the west bank of the canal. This tunnel is located at17km north of Suez, with a length of 5.9km, and the tunnel itself is1.64km long. The road in the tunnel is 7.5 meters wide and runs in parallel, with 2000 vehicles per hour. This is the first land passage connecting Asia and Africa through the Suez Canal.

Between Asia and Europe, 80% of general goods except oil are transported by sea through Suez Canal. Due to the laying of a large number of oil pipelines and the rapid development of roads and railways in the Middle East, the Suez Canal is facing a situation that the number of passing ships, especially oil tankers, is decreasing year by year, and the income of transit fees collected by Egypt from passing ships in the Suez Canal has also begun to decline. 1993 February 14, Egypt decided to widen and deepen the Suez Canal to increase foreign exchange earnings. The canal is widened by 30m and deepened by 1 to17m. This project was completed at the end of the year. 1On July 24, 1996, the Suez Canal Authority decided to further increase the depth of the canal to attract more large oil tankers and cargo ships to use the Suez Canal, thus ensuring that Egypt's income from the Suez Canal would not be reduced.

The Suez Canal is Egypt's third largest source of foreign exchange income, second only to remittances and tourism. According to the statistical report of the Canal Authority, during the 25 years from the reopening of the Suez Canal in June 1975 to June, 2000, * * * levied a ship transit tax of US$ 30 billion on Egypt, which was from the official completion and opening of the Suez Canal in June 1869 to its closure due to the Middle East war in June 1969. According to the annual report published by the Canal Authority, in 2006, there were 1 * * 13986 ships of various types passing through the Suez Canal, with a total deadweight of 456 million tons and a transit fee of190,000 US dollars.