Parallel reality of Suez Canal

On August 6 in Egypt the opening is planned of the new riverbed of the Suez Canal. It has been dug to increase channel capacity to 97 vehicles per day. The costs of construction of the second line of the Suez Canal amounted to 8 billion dollars. According to preliminary calculations, the parallel channel can triple the yield from operation of the channel up to 15 billion dollars per year.

The artificial shipping canal, which connects the Red and Mediterranean Seas, is considered to be a conditional border between Africa and Eurasia. It was opened for ships in 1869, but conflicts with the participation of Egypt, under whose jurisdiction it is located, led to the fact that the most important shipping artery overlapped several times. Now about 10% of world seaborne trade sails through the Suez Canal, which makes it one of the largest items of income of the Egyptian budget. Over the past 10 years of operation, the channel has brought almost 47 billion dollars to Egypt. During this period, 182.2 thousand ships of all types passed through the channel (with a capacity of 49 vessels a day), they transported 8.3 billion tons of cargo.

According to the Egyptian ambassador to Moscow, Mohamed El-Badri, the parallel channel was constructed in a year. "This project enhances and deepens the geopolitical power of Egypt. Between 60% and 80% of the trade that travels by sea passes through the Suez Canal. Egypt chose special lands, territories, which are on the right and left of these two canals, in order to use them as a storage space. For countries like Russia, which have large grain production, and there are fears that in the winter it is impossible to store such large quantities, but they can store their crops of wheat or corn in Egypt, and then they can export them later in the season."

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who visited Cairo during the weekend, congratulated Egyptians on the opening of the parallel channel. The head of US diplomacy met with his Egyptian colleague Sameh Shoukry, as well as with the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The resumption of dialogue in Cairo was described as strategically important. The Egyptian government hopes to restore military and economic aid to Egypt from the United States, taking into account the interests of each party and without imposing unacceptable conditions. According to Kerry, US business is ready to expand investment in the Egyptian economy.