Counting Ships in Suez

There’s nothing to do in Port Tawfiq, Suez, except watching cargo ships sailing by, but this seemingly dull way to kill time is rather entertaining and addictive, so much so that my sister and I sat through an afternoon and then the whole of next morning doing just that.

Upon leaving Cairo on our way to the Sinai Peninsular, we decide to do a pit-stop in Suez, located at the southern tip of the Suez Canal, where it flows into the Red Sea after traveling some 190km from the Mediterranean Sea.

We have come to see the Canal, which we learned since young that it’s an engineering feat built by the French, but we have never imagined it to be that narrow, only allowing a single lane sail, so in the afternoon, it is open for southbound ships, and in the morning for the northbound. It is amazing to see the canal sandwiched by golden desert plain, and the ships appear as if cruising through the desert.

Though the canal was built by the French in the late 19 century, the idea of opening a canal through the desert into the Red Sea was first executed by ancient Egyptian, way back in 1900 BC, so that supplies from the Nile region could be transported to the Red Sea and beyond at more ease. But the ancient waterway was abandoned, as subsequent rulers and foreign conquerers realized that easier access could also mean defense risk.

Indeed, such a waterway poses defense risk even in modern times, or rather, it triggered battles for resources between nations, as the Canal offers the shortest sea route between Europe and Asia. As we have learned in history lessons, the Suez Crisis in 1956 between colonial powers and Egypt led to some believing that a third World War was imminent; and later in 1967, unresolved issues from the Crisis led to the Six-Day War between Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria, resulted in the Sinai Peninsular came under Israeli rule for some 10 years, and the Canal once served as an international border.

Due to its turbulent past and strategic importance, today, the Canal is under tight military surveillance, though there’s an international treaty stating that it “shall always be free and open, in time of war as in time of peace, to every vessel of commerce or of war, without distinction of flag”. My sister and I found out that the banks by the Canal is not a public area while in Port Tawfiq. We have tried to no avail in getting close to the Canal, as the road fronting the Canal is fenced up with barb wire, and Egyptian army patrol the area day and night.

When we asked the army if we could go near the Canal for a few minutes to take a few pictures, the army shook their heads and hands and guns, gave us a look as if saying: “stupid tourist, this is not a playground, this is of military importance.” At the end, our best option is to head to the most expensive hotel in town, the Red Sea Hotel, which has a restaurant on the 6th floor that offers great view of the Canal; and the next best option is the Yatch Club, which has docks extending into a branch of the Canal.

We spent hours at both places, just to do ship-watching and counting, since the port city itself has little else to offer. Suez is not a typical port city as we have imagined (no drunked sailors of all nationalities mingling at seafront red-light district), and it lacks the hustle bustle of a port city, in fact, the streets around the port look rather deserted, and by night, it feels like the perfect location for filming horror movie – dark broad streets, dimly-lit broken windows, abandoned shops, and half-finished buildings …… it has the appearance of a ghost town, eerily quiet, save for the distance whistle from passing vessels.