Operation
The canal has no locks because of the flat terrain, and the minor sea level difference between each end is inconsequential for shipping.
There is one shipping lane with passing areas in Ballah-Bypass near El Qantara and in the Great Bitter Lake. On a typical day, three convoys transit the canal, two southbound and one northbound. The first southbound convoy enters the canal in the early morning hours and proceeds to the Great Bitter Lake, where the ships anchor out of the fairway, awaiting passage of the northbound convoy. The northbound convoy passes the second southbound convoy, which moors in Ballah-Bypass. The passage takes between 11 and 16 hours at a speed of around 8 knots (15 km/h; 9 mph). The low speed helps prevent erosion of the canal banks by ships' wakes.
By 1955 approximately two-thirds of Europe's oil passed through the canal. About 7.5% of world sea trade is carried via the canal today. In 2008, a total of 21,415 vessels passed through the canal and the receipts from the canal totaled $5.381 billion, with the average cost per-ship at roughly $251,000.
New Rules of Navigation that constitute an improvement over the older ones, which came into force as of 1 January 2008, were passed by the board of directors of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) to organise vessels' and tankers' transit.
The most important amendments to the Rules include allowing vessels with 62-foot (19 m) draught to pass, and increasing the allowed breadth from 32 metres (105 ft) up to 40 metres (130 ft) following improvement operations, as well as imposing a fine on vessels using divers from outside the SCA inside the canal boundaries without permission.
The amendments also allow vessels loaded with dangerous cargo (such as radioactive or inflammable materials) to pass, if they conform with the latest amendments provided by international conventions.
The SCA also has the right to determine the number of tugs required to assist warships traversing the canal, to achieve the highest degree of safety during transit.
The Suez Canal can handle more ship traffic and larger ships than the Panama Canal.
Read more about this topic: Suez Canal
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