Is This The Greatest Engineering Feat Of All Time? | Extreme Construction: The Suez Canal

Is This The Greatest Engineering Feat Of All Time? | Extreme Construction: The Suez Canal

over more than 190 km a stretch of blue cuts through the Egyptian desert this is the sews Canal one of the greatest technical Feats of all time by separating Africa and Asia this man-made route has transformed the world forever since its Creation in the 19th century it allows ships to pass directly from the Mediterranean Ocean through to the Red Sea this is a considerable shortcut as they no long longer have to go around Africa 18,000 ships take this route each year they return on one of the busiest waterways in the world approximately 700 million tons of merchandise pass through here these ships have become Giants of the sea weighing up to 240,000 tons and measuring up to 400 m long [Music] we will explain how the SE Canal has evolved to meet the needs of the Merchant [Music] Navy these ships are so large that the canal has become too narrow stopping the boats from passing one another in 2014 a giant project is launched a new 72 km route rises from the Sands effectively creating a two-way navigation system in less than a year 500 million cubic meters of sand are removed from the site this feat was carried out by an army of [Music] bulldozers and giant dredgers from all around the world using neverbe 3D images we will discover how the vacuum cleaners of the sea really work these machines are at The Cutting Edge of Technology because of them the canal is now 24 M deep compared to its original 8 m however the technical means available in the 19th century are very different drilling into the ismos of the SE thus becomes an extreme Challenge in 1859 when Ferdinando LEP launches this extraordinary project the region is a complete No Man’s Land everything must be transported to the site materials fresh water and a Workforce the construction site experiences numerous crisis and cost the lives of thousands of men but under the momentum of the Industrial Revolution Everything Changes we will learn more about about the machines that had to be invented in order to complete this astounding task but when surging Sands threaten its very existence the canal must undergo constant maintenance this proves a real challenge for this one-of-a-kind superstructure spanning from the initial works up to the present day we go behind the scenes of the construction of the to his canal [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] in 2014 a construction site is set up in the middle of the Egyptian desert this is the building site for the extension of the sewi canal the job is clearly immense they need to dig a second Waterway equal in volume to more than 200 large keops pyramids a crazy yet ultimately successful Gamble the new sewers Canal is inaugurated with a great Fanfare on the 6th of August 2015 it is an immense source of Pride for the Egyptian authorities bigger deeper cleaner the canal has been completely transformed these images make their way around the world dozens of foreign politicians come to be a part of the occasion the Waterway represents a strategic Focus for World Maritime trade the program for the ceremony includes official speeches a military parade and an aerial display Pier Kau recalls that day he was the site manager for a dredging company two ships passing side by side in the sus Canal constitutes a revolution moment in the history of this Mega structure in the past the Waterway was too narrow for two ships to directly pass one another this forced them to circulate in a different way now thanks to this new 72 km route a two-way navigation system is possible over this entire stretch this second Waterway gets rid of the alternate convoy system over a section of the SE canal the transit duration for the ships shifts from 18 hours to 11 hours and the waiting time is reduced from 11 hours to 3 hours this is a considerable shortcut ultimately allowing the maximum traffic capacity on the canal to double in size by 2030 nearly 100 ships could take this route every day but in order to reach this goal an enormous amount of work is required the construction site is divided into two sections on one side the creation of a new 35 km Waterway running parallel to the original Canal on the other side the extension and deepening of the historic Waterway over 37 km by the great Bitter Lake the Egyptian Army works on the first half of the construction site they tackle enormous amounts of demolition work over an area situated 24 m above sea level their mission level off the land form to prepare the site for the imminent deepening work for the new Canal an array of bulldozers Scrappers trucks and skips clear 250 million cubic M of sand Earth and rocks the area is then flooded so that the dredgers are able to float the same quantity of sand still needs to be removed but this time from under the [Music] water machines at the Forefront of Technology such as the cutter suction dredger are enlisted for the task to dig the canal a different type of machine is used the cutter suction dredge with the help of an enormous pipe that reaches to the bottom of the canal this machine can extract materials all while moving forward at its head there is a large suction device the proportions of these floating Giants are huge they can measure over 200 M long the length of two football fields the technology on board allows the dredgers to remove the materials through floating [Music] pipes however the quantities on this construction site are unprecedented thousands of cubic met of sand run through the pipes and are then poured out several kilometers away in large storage areas in the middle of the Sinai desert in 2014 the sewers authorities appeal to two sets of dredging companies the first is in charge of increasing the depth of the canal to 24 M the second must extend the existing Waterway all while respecting the same depth a particular constraint challenges this section of the work the task must be completed without interrupting the general navigation the company for which piato works participated in the dredging of the second Zone the head of the SE Canal Authority had originally asked for a 5-year period to successfully carry out this incredible task nevertheless would only be given a year in which to do it the time constraint would constitute a significant challenge for this record-breaking construction site the next obstacle the transportation of the materials and the personnel to afford this extension the Country Must spend more than7 billion e the authorities thus rely on a national momentum and appeal for donations the strategy is successful as 80% of the project would be financed by the Egyptian population all in just a few days the work on the new SE Canal is added to a long series of construction sites on the waterway that have been underway since its Creation in the 19th century the construction history of this Mega structure dates back more than a century and a half discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and AdFree podcasts presented by world-renowned historians all from history hit watch them on your smart TV or on the- go with your mobile device download the app now to explore everything from the wonders of ancient Pompei and the Mystery of the princes in the tower to the life of Anne berin and D-Day sign up via the link in the description when the first Engineers arrive at the ismos of the sews they discover a suitable environment for the implementation of a canal despite its location in a completely isolated region the Sinai measuring 60,000 Square km is one of the driest deserts in the world however nothing can shake the determination of the canal explorers the official start of construction to connect the two C’s is set for the 25th of April 1859 but the workers are in for a hellish experience TI shambal has supervised numerous Maritime Works throughout his career as an engineer he describes the working conditions of the time the site is in desperate need of a greater Workforce the project is in danger but where could they find more workers willing to dig the canal the Egyptian authorities proposed to reinstate the forced labor [Music] scheme carolene p is a senior lecturer at the saon she wrote a reference work on the history of the sez canal nearly 400,000 laborers from all over Egypt are forced to dig the canal in extreme conditions the construction site would cost the lives of thousands of them the isolation of the site situated in the desert far from any supplies and equipment quickly proves to be a problem groups of people are forced to deliver everything to the site some of the materials such as wood or large rocks are entirely missing from the area in need of a solution to facilitate the transportation of the materials the managers of the construction site decide to build a small Supply canal at 50 m long and 2 m deep the supply Canal is a reduced scale model of the final Canal the workers First Carry Out the digging in dry conditions once they reach a certain depth water is poured in so that the dredgers can float while extending and deepening the Waterway the excavated material is used to fill in the banks 78 dredgers are built specific specifically for the sewers Canal construction site this particular machine is characterized by a central well that allows a bucket chain to descend down to its main body the lowest bucket strikes the bottom fills up and then ascends to pour its contents into the barges the bucket dredger is at the origin of a series of dredging machines like the back ho Dipper excavator Ator this powerful machine was used on the construction site of the new SE Canal its three enormous Stakes are used to stabilize the Pontoon so that the excavator can stand on top the shovel digs into the canal bed and unloads the excavated material into a barge M next to the dredger it can work on any type of soil this engine corresponds perfectly with the type of rocks in the region essentially sand and clay since the drilling work for the canal started in 1859 the engineers have been asking themselves how will these soils react when they are put underwater we go to a state-of-the-art laboratory at the P par here we meet Dr gabiso a specialist in geotechnical engineering initially the project sought to establish an embankment with an incline of 26° nevertheless due to the instability of the soil when placed underwater their original plans would be turned upside down on this reduced scale model of the SE Canal The Specialist reproduces the same slopes as those originally imagined by the engineers at the time once the canal fills with water the embankment gradient softens some walls even collapse consequently the Basin fills with sand in the 19th century the engineers decide to let their Banks slope naturally however this means that they need to dig even deeper in order to reach the appropriate depth during construction traffic on the future Canal is intense convoys of barges towed by men and animals are used to transport the materials the installation of an additional Supply Canal quickly begins most importantly this will allow fresh water to be delivered to the construction site this is a rare product in the desert region but it is indispensable for such work thanks to the canal water from the Nile is transported to the ismos from zagazig to iselia joining onto the SE thereafter the fresh water only arrives later to port s first through canalization and then through an extension of the Waterway the freshwat canal follows the trace of a much older Waterway since the dawn of time men have been trying to cross the Egyptian desert by boat [Music] for centuries the world Seaborn trade has been using an entirely different route the solution in connecting Europe and Asia lies in traveling to Egypt to unload the cargo the transport then continues on land however this is not the end when the groups reach the Red Sea the goods are loaded onto a second ship for the rest of the trip a real EXP addition a new Waterway would only be established by the Portuguese at the end of the 15th century this new Waterway would merge the Oriental borders together effectively bypassing Africa this Voyage lasts several months nearly 300 years later a French Emperor reinstates the idea of drilling into the ismos of the sewers Napoleon bonapart Engineers conclude that there are too many technical obstacles so the project ultimately falls into Oblivion in the middle of the 19th century one French diplomat decides to persevere with this crazy dream his name is Ferdinand LEP for arier de this man would change the face of the world the this extraordinary character would ultimately shape the drilling project of the ismos of the sewers in 1854 Ferdinand LEP gets the opportunity of a lifetime when his friend Muhammad s Pasha comes into power they got to know each other when the French diplomat was working in Egypt fer gains the exclusive power to dig a canal between the two oceans they would have the right to exploit it for 99 years but on his construction site the work doesn’t seem to progress after 2 years the workers don’t succeed in removing the required amounts of sand to f finish the canal they lack the necessary Machinery on the construction site for the new Canal it took less than 2 months to remove the same amount of [Music] material in a century and a half the quality of the dredgers has evolved considerably the incredible volume of material excavated in the most recent extension project is proof of this but in order to reach the fixed ation objectives the construction site required the mobilization of 75% of the existing dredgers which amounted to approximately 40 machines from all over the world a project nowadays the best judgers are fitted with hydraulic pumps that inject water in order to extract the sediments in his time ferin would have loved to work with such effective machines even if they had only arrived on the SE Canal after the 1930s nowadays with unimaginable capacities these machines have facilitated the deepening of the sewers Canal the key feature of the cutter suction dredge is that it can move and work at the same time this was an excellent advantage on the construction site of the new SE Canal where tasks sometimes had to be carried out without interrupting General navigation to find out how this machine work works we climb aboard one of these floating Giants this ship works on maintaining the access Channel at the Port of antp Dennis hen is its engineer the Dred drag head is the large tube trailing across the length of the hull that links onto the pumping system here it measures around 50 m its head resembles that of a giant steel monster for the filter works with the help of a water injection system it has a mobile head this way it can adapt to fit the incline of the dredging area the first water injection sets the materials in motion then with assistance from the teeth a second injection totally decomposes the sediments [Music] the command post for the dredge drag head is located in the control tower the main technician works with several screens these allow him to get an overall view of the depth of the Zone the performance of the device as well as an indication of the amount it has dredged be it mud sand or Stones the collected sediments are all stopped on board in the center of the vessel the largest reservoirs can reach a colossal capacity of up to 45,000 cubic M the equivalent to 12 Olympic swimming pools once the well is full The Dread drag head is pulled up and the ship moves to the excavation area the shutters situated at the bottom of the hold help to unload the excavated material into the clearing Zone this technique is known as piling [Music] an alternative clearing system consists in forcing The material through a pipe the excavated material can then be transported several kilometers away through the means of either a floating or underground piping system these two methods were used on the new SE Canal construction site a large piling Zone was set up to the west of the great Bitter Lake the materials were removed via the piping system and unloaded into Large Hollow areas in the heart of the Sinai desert the final method employed for removing dredged materials is known as rainbowing this is normally used for Beach [Music] nourishment in the 19th century the excavation of rubble from what will be the future Canal is a big problem in 1864 before the influx of machines the construction site confronts a serious crime crisis the forced labor scheme authorizing the use of Egyptian peasants for the work is abolished at this time the industrial revolution in Europe is in full swing the engineers thus try to invent new machines to keep the construction site going lvly industries develop long gangways to unload the excavated material directly from the dredgers this had never been done before the dredger scooops mud up from the bottom of the water in what will be the future Canal it then unloads the excavated material into a gutter that can measure up to 70 M long a pump sends Jets of water to dissolve the extracted matter and pushes it towards the exit a horizontal hinge situated at the junction of the dredger helps to modify the incline of the gang way a metallic trellis that rests on an iron barge assures the machine stability this Innovation changes the construction site for good the canal progresses at an astounding speed but in the areas where the banks are more highly elevated the dredger with the long gangway is destabilized several accidents are accounted for an alternative machine is developed this engine known as the lift permits the excavation of the materials directly from the barge we have a meeting with Leonard dufor he is the collections manager at the Museum of Arts and trades machine consequently the steam engine shifts to the railway in locomotives and onto water on board ships it is also used in workshops or construction sites for public works as a means to support the other machines the the loc mobiles are also used to operate pumps for the long gangways the dredgers on the other hand use their own steam engine in Europe a real enthusiasm is generated around the technical revolutions established on the construction side the sus Canal company holds several conferences in front of a giant model of the project that is exhibited during the event along with this technical Revolution a series of Innovations in all domains soon follows notably in port s the engineers face a typically insurmountable problem there aren’t enough Stone quaries in the region to build the harbor Jetties one entrepreneur suggests that they build artificial blocks with a base made of sand and lime 30,000 blocks are made another building site develops within the SE Canal construction site [Music] this would be the first manufacturing site for artificial blocks in history the fabrication of the blocks would still require years of further development and the blocks used for the Jetties would need to be replaced on a regular basis another section of the construction site is deemed problematic for the work required in the elevated areas of the site a ramp system is established along the length of the slope at the bottom of the cavity the workers dig the future Canal the excavated materials are loaded into small carts and connected to a railway track towed by steam winches they ascend the slope in order to reach the disposal site another challenge for both the past construction site and the latest one is the difficult management of the rocky Banks to solve this problem there is a machine that has been specially adapted to work on this type of land it is known as the cutter suction dredger this giant of the sea can measure up to 150 M long and 30 m wide the dredger gets into position and fixes itself into the ground by using its large Stakes it then moves around this axis with the help of its lateral winches linked to Giant anchors the cutter head is at the front of the vessel this enormous drill can reach up to 3 m in diameter its Mission destroy the Rocks even the hardest one under the water and on the banks this giant engine is controlled from a steering cabin equipped with the latest technology dredgers such as the IBN batuta are capable of positioning themselves with incredible Precision in order to carry out their demolition work the amount of rubble produced is truly phenomenal rocks sand mud clay all of the materials are sucked up through hydraulic pumps and then pushed back into the floating pipes and tubes laid out on the shore when it is possible to unload the excavated material into an underwater Zone the pipe connected to the cutter head is tied to a raft equipped with A continuous sprad in system as an alternative option the excavated materials are unloaded onto barges that are m to the dredger once they reach the disposal site the hull splits in two in order to get rid of the cargo in total 25 cutter suction dredgers were utilized on the construction site for the new SE Canal this had never been seen before with a horsep of 38,000 it is one of the most powerful dredgers in the world during the 19th century the workers also face several Rocky obstacles while developing the future Canal destroying the Rocks requires Herculean strength a new machine thus Peaks the interest of the sewers company to help them overcome this difficult area nickname the steam shovel nearly 16 KU excavators are built especially for the SE construction site the excavator moves on Rails positioned along the future canal and gradually widens it in the space of 3 years it assists in the removal of 9 million cubic M of land a record its specially formed buckets allow it to extract a significant amount of rock before ascending back up to the excavator the extracted matter is taken away in small carts once they all loaded a locomotive takes them to the disposal site little by little the railway line becomes a normal part of the construction site it helps not only with the transportation of the material but with the transportation of the staff as well these temporary railway lines are constructed Ed and deconstructed as is necessary for excavation but even the KU excavator does not always succeed in destroying the rocks in 1869 2 months before the inauguration of the SE Canal Rocky banks are discovered in the waterway at a depth of 4 M when in reality the canal should be 8 m deep the aim is to create a sufficient passageway for the ships of the time in terms of the submerged portion of the vessel this is what is known as the draft the passage is completed in the final weeks of the construction site [Music] [Music] after 10 years of Labor the sews Canal finally becomes a reality the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Ocean join together the Waterway measures 164 kilm in total the route now joins the main cities of the ismos together port s on the Mediterranean Ocean is Melia in the middle and finally Suz at the mouth of the gulf by the Red Sea on the 17th of November 1869 the SE Canal is inaugurated it is an International Event Ferdinand LEP has made the pharaoh’s dream a reality open to all nations the sus Canal changes the world’s Seaborn trade forever from this point onwards the journey between Europe and the Indies is cut in half to get from mares to Bombay the original distance around Africa was more than 19,000 km with the SE Canal it amounts to almost 8,000 km this is a considerable shortcut originally 2 to 3 months of navigation via the Cape of Good Hope would have been the norm when traveling between these two ports by passing through the ithos the journey is reduced to a single month at the beginning of the 20th century the sus Canal company acquires an industrial site the general workshops situated in Port fuad the naval construction site is thus at the height of Technology the workshops fabricate the company equipment more than a thousand individuals work there nevertheless during its first years of operation the canal maintenance service faces an unexpected hitch the backflow created by the passing of the ships damages the embankments situated close to grob this hydraulic laboratory is still operating today Luke is the maritime technical director here they study all sorts of water related developments on smaller scale models when the seis Canal company contacts them in the middle of the 20th century the Waterway is in bad shape the laboratory recreates a section of the SE Canal a smaller scale model of the vessel is first towed through and later self-propelled the studies focus on trying to understand this resistance so as to modify the shape of the hulls in the ships the research proves so Innovative that it quickly captures the attention of various oil companies the models improve the final result the ships move with greater ease through the water and the traffic of the canal is optimized in spite of all these efforts to maintain the Waterway further extension work quickly becomes inevitable the sewers Canal must continuously adapt to the ever evolving shapes of new ships we find out more at the national Navy Museum in 1950 40,000 ton ships are outdated their proportions are nothing in comparison to the other vessels of the time such as the pelo with its 2,000 tons the ship owned by the Imperial Maritime shipping company is one of the first to have traveled on the SE Canal the Waterway also has to make it through the 20th century with all of its conflict on the 26th of July 1956 Colonel NASA gives a momentous speech in front of a crowd of Egyptians he announces the nationalization of the SE Canal the Western Powers react to this the United Kingdom France and Israel launch a military operation that ultimately ends in Failure however navigation on the canal is stopped for almost 5 months the canal deteriorates with the help of the UN Egypt repairs and modernizes the canal with its depth increased to 14 M the Waterway can now handle ships with an 11 M draft in 1967 a new crisis shakes the region The Six Day War along with other Arab countries Egypt battles against Israel the SE Canal turns into a war zone sunken ships and mines obstruct the navigation the Basin fills with sand and the embankments collapse the Waterway is closed down [Music] the Egyptian authorities must act so with the help of the International Community they launch a rehabilitation and modernization program for the canal thereafter the canal doubles in size at four separate points to allow the ships to pass one another Port SED and Cabret both of which have been part of the site since 1955 join onto the Bala bypass ultimately a new bypass at the great Bitter Lake spans over a 5 km distance similarly to Motorway Junctions these bypasses allow the ships to travel in both directions thanks to these New Dimensions the canal can withstand ships weighing up to 150,000 tons these ships have turned into Giants of the sea that need to be controlled at porel ship handling Center in isir pilots and captains learn how to maneuver the ships with the help of small scale models these mini liners container ships feries and tankers all about a dozen meters long can hold up to two people on this 5 hectare Lake all sorts of Maritime infrastructures have been recreated including a section of the SE Canal Jean Paul Jean is an instructor this morning he is trading two interns to attempt the bypass on the SE Canal this maneuver is normally forbidden here potential errors can be pushed beyond the security limits it is a good way to test the ship’s reactions this is a a 10-fold hazard as Maritime infrastructures are often overcrowded but how can you maneuver ships that are continuously increasing in speed and size yet lacking power [Music] captains and Pilots are now learning how to maneuver giant ships on the SE Canal that can weigh up to 240,000 tons after the development of the two-way navigation system the draft limit is increased to more than 20 M the canal is even at the origin of the measurement unit known as the suis Max this unit determines the maximum Dimensions possible for a ship to be able to pass through the mega structure this is a constru for certain ship owners Eric banel is their representative in France one of the main objectives of the extension work was to adapt the Waterway to match the new dimensions of the Merchant Navy however this risk the disqualification of the canal even now it is still one of the most used waterways in the world the SE Canal constitutes a strategic passageway for maritime carriers the Waterway drains out almost 8% of global traffic it also represents an enormous economic stake for the Egyptian authorities [Music] [Music] Egypt thus has every interest to keep investing in its Mega structure back at the SE canal we climb on board a container ship alongside yeah boat alongside Max is the captain we are at the moment proceeding uh Northbound in SE can here the navigation laws are strict direction and speed must be constantly controlled in order to avoid crashing into another ship yeah it’s going smooth no problems here slow ahead okay a pilot from the SE Canal Authority advises the captain on which Maneuvers to pursue this is a compulsory [Music] measure it’s quite important to navigate correctly here in the canal because as you can see there’s not much room on each side of the vessel this is no ordinary day for the captain and his crew this is the first time they are passing through the new SE Canal I’ve been here approximately 40 times but today is special that we will be turning to starboard into the new Canal instead of turning to Port into the old one it is a special moment in the captain’s career now of course it’s a special uh every time when you do something first time and it will also be special now to when we get to the approach to the new new channel little by little the landscape changes now it’s quite amazing how much uh sand they really have out of of this canal we have mountains both sides now it’s [Music] incredible the sews Canal the gem of the industrial World continues to blow us away with its Innovations now as a two-way navigation system the mega structure must overcome another challenge namely how to cross it the new SE Canal has rendered certain infrastructures obsolete so such as the aleran Railway Bridge at 340 M it was the longest swing bridge in the world now it no longer serves any purpose to cross over the Dual Waterway and make the Sinai region more accessible several infrastructures will take shape a notable addition to the program the construction of two Motorway tunnels beneath the SE Canal near Port s this is an entirely new challenge as it involves drilling a double tube measuring nearly 4 km long a subsequent railway tunnel may even accompany this technical feat constantly changing in size depth and modernity the SE Canal is in a state of Perpetual transformation [Music]

Discover the incredible story behind the construction and expansion of the Suez Canal. Spanning over 190 km, this man-made marvel has revolutionized global trade since the 19th century. Learn how it evolved to accommodate today’s massive ships, the challenges faced during its creation, and the cutting-edge technology used in its latest expansion. Witness the engineering brilliance that turned a desert into one of the world’s busiest waterways. Don’t miss out on this fascinating journey through history and innovation!

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