The Suez Canal: The Desert Ditch Ferrying 1 Billion Tons of Goods Every Year (When It's Not Blocked)

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[@AngadAnand1]

Do a mega project on Simon Whistlers youtube enterprise.

[@markmorrison2815]

It should be a business blaze!

[@jordaneggerman4734]

At this point, it could really be a Top Tenz, Biographics, Business Blaze, and (at the very least) a SideProjects video too...

[@jordaneggerman4734]

.....allegedly.

[@estieglandwr]

He's already well on his way to global media domination 😆

[@Pilsnor]

@@estieglandwr its at least a small media Empire at this point

[@growingup15]

Simon is the only person I know that has 8 Channels and is active on all of them basically. that takes dedication

[@drewlovely2668]

RIP Highlight History

[@mbkingston]

The hardest working man on KZbin.

[@stacyrussell460]

Count again. Simon has ten active channels when I am typing this in early June 2021.

[@growingup15]

@@stacyrussell460 wait 10 👀

[@igrowgrass]

He and his team do a great job writing content that's interesting and timely. Keep it up Simon and team!

[@bradley163]

"How are we going to finish this?" "Just throw death and suffering at it until it's done!"

[@DeeperWithDiego]

Turns out death and suffering is not profitable. Let's build some giant mechanical shovels and invest personal Capital into the canal. Wallah it's done! America looks over, Welcome To The Future!

[@maybenorthern]

Damn egypt really loves throwing casualties at something until it works

[@ascensionindustries9631]

@@maybenorthern Slavery: Gets shit done.

[@RealFemale69]

@@ascensionindustries9631 How many times have they used slaves on big projects?

[@Creabsley]

Voila. It’s voila. It’s French , you absolute muppet.

[@thatoneguy7444]

Lmao Am I the only one that expected him to say "AM I RIGHT PETER?!" after talking about a statue of a woman holding a torch

[@megaprojects9649]

AM I RIGHT PETER? WOMAN HOLDING TORCHES?! HA!

[@way2crazie620]

Yes you are???

[@lowerthetone]

@@way2crazie620 Your vicinity is a Blaze free zone

[@ItsAsparageese]

@@way2crazie620 Check out his channel Business Blaze :) it's a lot more casual and "AM I RIGHT, PETER?!" is a running joke there in reference to some guy with hilariously/horribly sexist viewpoints some decades back. I believe the episode that originated in is one about old advertisements that aged badly

[@battlesheep2552]

Pre-1900, if you don't need a mass grave, is it really a megaproject?

[@phantomechelon3628]

The past was indeed the worst...

[@MrChit-od9po]

the business blaze smirk came out for a second, but Simon contained himself.

[@SRW_]

A weak little statue holding a torch?! Am i right peter?!

[@billolsen4360]

Good ol' Bartholdi!

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:50 - Chapter 1 - Ancient history 3:05 - Chapter 2 - Planning & building 5:40 - Chapter 3 - Inauguration & early stages 7:55 - Chapter 4 - Global impact & financial problems 9:00 - Chapter 5 - Suez crisis 11:05 - Chapter 6 - An 8 year wait 12:30 - Chapter 7 - The new suez canal 14:15 - Chapter 8 - The future of the canal

[@cookingwithchefluc7173]

Simon a nice Megaproject would be the German Nucleur plan when they planned to use heavy water to build atomic bombs in WW2.

[@hunterflowerson4460]

What’s heavy water?

[@p.l.g3190]

It's water that has become contaminated with radiation due to being used in a nuclear power plant.

[@cihuacoatl]

@@p.l.g3190 err, no. The hydrogen in normal water has only a single proton in its core (and an electron in the shell). there are isotopes of hydrogen with an additional neutron (deuterium) or two neutrons (trtium), both are radioactive. This doesn't nessecarily have anything to do with nuclear power plants as such. The contaminated water there may contain any sort of radioactive trace elements. Heavy water ist used in the manufacture of hydrogen bombs.

[@kevadu]

Eh, the German nuclear program never really got very far and was severely underfunded and understaffed because they had so many other things they wanted to build and they were kind of losing the war at the same time. They had ideas but little to show for it. Doesn't really sound like a megaproject to me...

[@thePronto]

Or the many canals in Germany, including the Kiel Canal, which saves sailing around Denmark.

[@jbtechcon7434]

I always wonder what the environmental impact was of suddenly letting Mediterranean species flow into the Indian Ocean and vice versa. Must have been a lot of invasive species, in an era when humans didn't have much concept of that or any good way to monitor it under the sea.

[@jessicascoullar3737]

I hadn’t thought of that but now you have mentioned it thought I would look it up. There is a lot of scientific studies done on this, enough to have a Wikipedia page on the topic complete with multiple references for those wanting to know more en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lessepsian_migration.

[@jbtechcon7434]

@@jessicascoullar3737 Oh, thank you for this reply! I'm reading the article right now.

[@georgesanderson477]

A good idea for a mega project would be the Arctic Convoy’s during WW2.. they were pretty horrifying, especially PQ17.

[@marinevet4131]

Remember going trough it several times on Navy ships while I was in the Marines, always a tense moment.

[@pfrstreetgang7511]

You can't stop there!! Why did it cause tension on a naval vessel?

[@keqing311]

Time went so fast that we just forgot that a damn container ship blocked it

[@justinsullivan5063]

Great show. The context is some of your best (I never thought about the alternate routes)

[@hazcat640]

My son sails through the sewer 4+ times a year. He's an engineer on a cargo ship.

[@valiroime]

Ed Norton, eat your heart out. (Think of the ‘50s TV show, The Honeymooners, not the actor)

[@thePronto]

So you're saying that ships just discharge their waste into the Canal? Can't they wait until they are out at sea?

[@kevinmael3862]

@@thePronto depends on the ballast needed.

[@ntluck1592]

Good video. Btw, the base of the statue that was planned for Port Said still exists. The citizens of Port Said are still waiting for the statue lol

[@danielpickett8560]

Another excellent video! Thank you

[@lauriepenner350]

The lesson to take away from ancient construction projects is that you don't need that much technology to build incredible things. All you need is an infinite number of human workers and a total disregard for their lives.

[@bobfg3130]

Or maybe time? A lot of workers and time.

[@unculturedweeb4240]

All this talk of digging makes me want to play Minecraft.

[@hunterflowerson4460]

I haven’t played in years, but I say go for it

[@spritemon98]

Diggy diggy hole

[@randomotter6346]

1.17 just released (as of 8th June 2021). Go for it.

[@spritemon98]

@@randomotter6346 I'm not sure if the new ores are coming in the first half of 1.17

[@lord6617]

In valheim one of my mates built a canal, and our global trade was also benefited.

[@Mrgunsngear]

Thanks

[@robmoore9501]

Good video, can you do something about Italy turning from right hand drive to left hand drive vehicles please

[@pfrstreetgang7511]

The explanation of future use in regards to cargo (oil) is appreciated.

[@blackpowderfirearmenthusia3194]

Very interesting and informative thank you.

[@dr.jamesolack8504]

Jolly good, Mr. Whistler!

[@Stevo2557]

I love all of your videos. I'm a history nerd like you.

[@chrislong3938]

I'd heard of the canal back when I was a kid in school but never really thought much about it other than its place on the globe. Then I went to see Lawrence of Arabia and that scene towards the end of the flick when all seemed lost, the blast of a ship's horn goes off and there... the mast of a ship cruising through the canal!

[@williamsnee143]

Awesome lesson

[@justandy333]

$465,000 per transit! Bloody hell! I never had any notion it was THAT expensive to use it. I'm alright thanks I'll go around!

[@owenshebbeare2999]

I suppise if you are moving large amounts of cargo, it is still more economical than going around Africa. Safer too.

[@firesurfer]

The toll is by weight. Just for the heck of it, I calculated the smallest amount that would be reasonable and it came out to $84 for a first time transit for a 10 ton vessel with a 2 meter draft. Basically a medium sailboat.

[@SanjaySingh-ph5bp]

Yooo simon back with another cool video

[@randyhavard6084]

That cheerful music playing in the background to the B.E.F. is priceless

[@panzerman1979]

Excellent as usual 👌

[@jcsv12345]

Here after the Suez Canal Spring Break '21 Edition xD

[@davidswift9120]

Really loving your videos. Great in the background while I work...though somewhat difficult, having to look up every 20 seconds for an extra nugget of brilliant info. Here's a suggestion....You've done plenty of stuff on skyscrapers, but what about current [lesser known projects[] and future ones in the pipeline?

[@FIRE_STORMFOX-3692]

Great content mon ami

[@PK-lz4ho]

I wonder how many archaeological sites they came across digging it and just ignored them.

[@imdrunken]

At least one I would think

[@LazyEinstein]

Another CHANNEL?!?! Simon is a Mad man, I tell ya. A MAD MAN!

[@aquilarossa5191]

No way could people build that with hand tools. Must have been aliens :P

[@paulpinecone2464]

The canal itself was doable by humans, but alien help was needed to clear away the pyramid that appeared in the middle of it.

[@stuart7415]

Whenever I come back to these channels he's spawned yet another one XD Thanks for all the great content!

[@aleroxit]

Nicely done. Thatch you

[@blackbetty2946]

Awesome thanks

[@seanc6754]

I'm knew to your channel and I have been watching for about 2 weeks now and I have to say that I absolutely love your effin channel!! I have been watching the "Real Engineering" channel for a long time but you bring something to your channel the other one doesnt. Your awesome personality. Every episode at some point I'm laughing my ass off and in my opinion there's nothing better then learning and laughing at the same time! Now I'm not knocking Real Engineering at all I love that channel too, but he explains stuff in a much more engineering/nerdy way and I also very much enjoy that but this is now my new favorite channel. Military,Space and Submarine engineering are my absolute favorite and there is plenty of that on this channel. Thank you Simon for doing this and being such a hilarious and kick a$$ dude! p.s.. arw you going to do a video on the space shuttles?

[@Gebenki]

The megaproject we've all been waiting for! Excellent work Simon. Can you do a video on the Hong Kong Airport next?

[@kenshores9900]

Very interesting topic.

[@frankgulla2335]

Thank you

[@ZieMuffinMan]

hey me again, video on the Appalachian Trail, probably a better fit for Geographics

[@jorionrange8336]

I thought there was one ...

[@unitedwestand5100]

This was a pretty simple project actually. The Erie Canal, 362 miles, was completed in 1825. And, it had locks...

[@harmonicresonanceproject]

Excellent!

[@Friedfoodie]

As usual, sardonic and informative. Excellent.

[@johnathanadams6378]

Hey Simon and crew- the B-29 Superfortress cost an estimated $3 Billion (to the Manhattan Project’s $2 Billion) as the most expensive project of all WWII. It’s service lifetime was short but the general systems and platform lasted for over a decade and sort of rolled into what would become the B-52 program, a platform which will likely fly for nearly 100 years.

[@tomschmidt381]

Great overview of canal history. I loved Simon's sarcasm about the more controversial aspects.

[@ronniecheckers6919]

Great job as the general in Sweet Tooth on Netflix. Can’t wait to see what role you play next.

[@berenrey]

If you haven't done it already, a video on the Space Needle would be interesting.

[@craigcarter400]

As long as you leave the drug needles in the Seattle center out of it.

[@halite_g]

Didn't Simon already do an episode on this? Or am I crazy? Edit: The geographics episode was what I was thinking of

[@valiroime]

So, yes.

[@Sutterjack]

Simon you constantly blow my mine with the exhaustive detail of your subjects and the great way you present it. I don't know how you crank out so many great topics week after week. Keep it up dude!

[@vanwright3640]

Thank U

[@Xantec]

i never realised Lady Liberty was originally meant for Egypt

[@catman2261]

I liked the shade you're throwing at them for it being blocked.

[@babscabs1987]

Oooooh do the Corinth Canal next!

[@MutarFuqueer]

Simon Whistler: Narrator of the Internet

[@rolfjacobson833]

thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@urza4282]

You forgot the part of the Suez where you have to throw stupid amounts of cartons of cigarettes and sometimes liquor at the pilots and agents before they'll bring you through the canal. Otherwise you'll just sit at one of the entrances, waiting.

[@igrowgrass]

Exploitation is lubrication when no one's looking....or everyone is involved.

[@dr.jamesolack8504]

Sounds like quid pro quo...what’s wrong with that?

[@igrowgrass]

In some form or another....that how the world operates. Nobody quids without a beneficial pro quo in return. That would just make you a terrible businessman.

[@mdr48371]

The next project Egypt needs to work on is a giant Suez Canal plunger to keep it unclogged.

[@timshulepov]

I like the clause in the title -- "when It's not blocked". :))

[@Duececoupe]

Still waiting for a video on getting up in the morning, which most times IS a mega project, at least until the nectar of gods, the manna from heaven, that life elixir we all know as coffee (or tea) kicks in! 😉

[@Balafoutre]

History of the world. Amazing!!!!

[@PHDiaz-vv7yo]

As we’re in Egypt- do a Megaproject video on the new Egypt capital city. ….in 10-15 years time

[@robertwalker-smith2739]

The idea of ships sailing from East Asia to Northern Europe via Russia's Arctic coast is quite remarkable. I'm imagining my children telling their children 'when my Pop was your age, the Arctic Ocean had a year-round ice cap.'

[@BlackHoleForge]

I love that you were too late for the first blockage, but just in time for the most recent one.

[@tudorbaltoiu7685]

A good idea for a Megaprojects would be the Danube-Black Sea Canal, a project with a dark history of its own.

[@Taneth]

England: "Forced labour is good for business." Egypt: "I'm going to do a forced labour." England: "Don't you dare, -that'll undercut my profits- that's inhumane!"

[@embracethesuck1041]

Same sort of blind hypocrisy (mostly in the states) that claims that the US was an anomaly in slavery.

[@owenshebbeare2999]

@@embracethesuck1041 The US certainly was not an anomaly in having slavery, though held onto slaves for longer than Europe, even if many colonies were not granted such emancipation, especially those of France, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands (well aware that both Belgium and the Netherlands had rather fluid governance for a long time). The story of slabery is incomplete though, as it continues today, was always aided by fellow Africans when it came to African slavery, and the Islamic world is given a free pass, it seems, as is modern India.

[@itsapittie]

@@embracethesuck1041 In 1860, slavery was a fact in every nation in the world. A few countries in Europe had banned it in the home country but it continued in their colonies, sometimes into the early 20th century in fact if not in name. To the best of my knowledge, every culture in history practiced slavery in one form or another at various times. It's easy for us to say "they should have known it was wrong" but the practice had existed all over the world for as long as there were records. Even the Bible didn't condemn the practice of slavery, only the mistreatment of slaves. It's a good thing that slavery is legally gone and I certainly hope we all now understand it as a gross violation of human rights, but the people who think it was some sort of American aberration are woefully ignorant of history. The U.S. is seen as "dealing with a legacy of slavery" more than -- for example -- Britain because for the most part, British slaves were in the colonies and when they were freed they were left there to fend for themselves sparing the home country the difficulty of dealing with them. Just look at what's going on in former British colonies where people were enslaved; if anything, most of them are worse off than we are.

[@elias_xp95]

From house slaves to worker slaves, the countries may change but the suffering is rarely any different.

[@gljames24]

Which was kind of funny if you think about it. The machines were much more efficient, so not only was forced labor entirely unnecessary, but also the British inadvertently helped Egypt to hurt the railroad faster.

[@brandongaines1731]

Here I was thinking that the qualifier "when it's not blocked" in the video's title was just a tongue-in-cheek reference to then-current events - and then, Simon goes on to list multiple other blockages of the Suez Canal, some of which lasted for longer (about four years longer, in one case) than EVERSTUCK 1 (EVERSTUCK 2 was, of course, the one that blocked the Chesapeake Bay).

[@RobSchofield]

MegaProject: Panama? SideProject: Suez Crisis? Great article.

[@BradGryphonn]

Not only did it change transport and travel, but The Canal changed many people's fortunes and, many country's economies.

[@RetiredSailor60]

Sailed through the Canal on USS Wasp LHD 1 in 2002

[@bromz8]

Best channel.

[@mikes5637]

When I was a kid I thought it was "the Sewers Canal" and was full of poop so smelled really bad.

[@shannonparkhill5557]

I love your honesty about British history. I can't believe it costed only 0.1% of our modern annual global military expenditure!

[@thelucywho3983]

I just saw an ad for Blaze Pizza and thought for a second Simon started a new business, lol

[@lelonfurr1200]

it is and remains one of the greatest accomplishment

[@stephenbritton9297]

Speaking of shipping delays... you should tackle the US west coast container ship backup....

[@Aamirmhmd99]

can u do a video on DMIC mega project...ur videos are really fun to watch...

[@beachboy0505]

Excellent video The Panama Canal and Suez Canal still control most of the trade in the world 🌎 🌍

[@callxmx9213]

Please make a video just saying works like - empire, superpower and hour” I love how you say it 😂

[@billcranston3882]

That shirt is on point.

[@mustafaemad3614]

Since we talk about a megaproject in Egypt, and I'm Egyptian. Here is some megaproject suggestions concerning Egypt: Benban Solar Park, Aswan High Dam, Bar Lev Line and Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

[@billolsen4360]

Egypt seems to excel with megaprojects, for the past 5000 years or so. You folks invented them.

[@enrico7474]

@@billolsen4360 the last mega project he mentioned isn't really an "Egyptian" project far from it its against the regional supremacy of egypt

[@mustafaemad3614]

@@enrico7474 Actually the last 2 was made to undermine Egypt.

[@Cheodo]

I hope Simon just keeps growing his beard out, it pretty fun to guess the timeline of a video release based on how long it is

[@randomotter6346]

Have the Apollo missions / space race had a video? If not a good idea.

[@HeadPack]

Would you consider a video on the Midi canal connecting the Mediterranean and the Atlantic? At the time it was built, in the 17th century, it was a Megaproject.

[@fanfichurtmyears6863]

You should do a mega projects on the Erie Canal

[@michaelfried3123]

its blocked? enema time!

[@hardcore476]

Can you do one on Yokosuka

[@lordrayden3045]

Since canal videos always seem to be popular, look up the “Illinois Michigan canal”

[@jamesclendon4811]

I want to hear more about the"intercontinental" railroad completed in the US 6 months earlier and referred to at 8:03.

[@ItsAsparageese]

I believe he meant the transcontinental railroad. Funny, in googling to confirm that I learned that apparently Obama once misspoke exactly the same thing, calling it intercontinental by accident lol

[@VictoriousGardenosaurus]

The more you know

[@MartianLivesMatter]

The beard is looking fresh! So jealous haha

[@nasraabdullah6935]

Great Video as always , but small correction the new canal or expansion costs 30 billion Egyptian pounds about 4.2 billion dollars not 30 billion dollars .

[@SlapShotRegatta22]

Project Iceworm/Camp Century, Greenland!

[@chris.becker]

Assuming you haven't already, you should definitely do a video on the Panama Canal now.

[@SlapShotRegatta22]

Camp Century / Project Iceworm, Greenland!!!

[@marcbeebee6969]

No link to your best episode? Best job ever #businessblaze

[@mikep3226]

This made me think, I'd like to see a biographics on Ferdinand de Lesseps. He had a very interesting life and was involved at various degrees in many very famous projects, including both the Suez and Panama Canals. I've gotten a number of glimpses of his life in videos like this one, but never gotten a coherent view of his whole life, I think that would be very interesting.