A Geographical Overview of the Suez Canal Freight Flows: an Impact on the Mediterranean Citation: M
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Firenze University Press www.fupress.com/bsgi A Geographical Overview of the Suez Canal Freight Flows: an Impact on the Mediterranean Citation: M. Tadini (2019) A Geo- graphical Overview of the Suez Canal Sea and the Genoa port Freight Flows: an Impact on the Mediterranean Sea and the Genoa port. Bollettino della Società Geogra- Un’interpretazione geografica dei flussi mercantili del Canale di fica Italiana serie 14, 2(1): 15-30. doi: 10.13128/bsgi.v2i1.220 Suez: l’impatto sul Mar Mediterraneo e sul porto di Genova Copyright: © 2019 M. Tadini. This is an open access, peer-reviewed arti- cle published by Firenze University Marcello Tadini Press (http://www.fupress.com/bsgi) and distributed under the terms of the Dipartimento di Studi per l’Economia e l’Impresa, Università del Piemonte Orientale Creative Commons Attribution License, E-mail: [email protected] which permits unrestricted use, distri- bution, and reproduction in any medi- um, provided the original author and Abstract. The Suez Canal, that connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea across the source are credited. Isthmus of Suez, is one of the world’s most critical waterways. Today it represents a Data Availability Statement: All rel- strategic world’s choke point. Maritime choke points are a major issue today in the evant data are within the paper and its global economy and in shipments of goods, particularly oil and container. Supporting Information files. This paper, using the typical approach of the transport geography, aims to highlight the geo-political and geo-economic relevance of the Suez Canal starting from its construc- Competing Interests: The Author(s) tion until its recent expansion. In particular, the paper considers the canal’s impact on declare(s) no conflict of interest. the Mediterranean’s new centrality in global seaborne trade. Main freight flows crossing the Suez Canal northbound/southbound underline the importance of the Northern Mediterranean and Italian ports that perform gateway functions. The main goal of the paper is to describe, as Panaro suggested (2015), how the new infrastructure of the Suez Canal is extremely important for the Northern Italy gate- way ports in particular focusing on the Genoa port (which is the target of a significant share of traffic coming from/directed to Suez). Keywords: The Suez Canal, freight flows, maritime routes, the Mediterranean Sea, the Genoa port. Riassunto. Il canale di Suez, che collega il Mediterraneo al Mar Rosso attraverso l’i- stmo di Suez, è una delle vie d’acqua più critica del mondo. Attualmente si configura come un passaggio strategico globale. I punti di strozzatura marittimi rappresentano una questione di rilievo oggi nell’economia globale e nelle spedizioni di merci, in parti- colare di petrolio e container. Questo lavoro, utilizzando l’approccio tipico della geografia dei trasporti, si propone di evidenziare la rilevanza geo-politica e geo-economica del Canale di Suez a partire dalla sua costruzione fino alla sua recente espansione. In particolare, considera gli effetti del canale sulla nuova centralità del Mediterraneo negli scambi marittimi globali. I principali flussi di merci che attraversano il Canale di Suez in entrambe le direzioni sottolineano l’importanza dei porti del Mediterraneo settentrionale e italiani che svol- gono funzioni di gateway. Bollettino della Società Geografica Italiana serie 14, 2(1): 15-30, 2019 ISSN 1121-7820 (print) | DOI: 10.13128/bsgi.v2i1.220 16 Marcello Tadini L’obiettivo principale dell’articolo è quello di descrivere, come traffic flows that reflect the economic relations and- con suggerito da Panaro (2015), come la nuova infrastruttura del nections between areas (Ulmann, Mayer 1954). Canale sia decisamente rilevante per i porti di accesso del Nord Transport flows are also used as a proxy to “read Italia, in particolare concentrandosi su quello di Genova (carat- the world” namely to estimate the interactions at differ- terizzato da significativi traffici da/per Suez). ent geographical scales. The analysis of flows between Parole chiave: Canale di Suez, flussi mercantili, rotte marittime, regions implies the use of the so-called network Mar Mediterraneo, porto di Genova. approach (Black 2003). Therefore, it is possible to identify three core dimen- sions of transport geography: flows, nodes/locations and networks (Hesse, Rodrigue 2004). Nevertheless, transport geography also studies the different modes of 1. Introduction transportation such as road, rail, aviation and ships. Of course, we focused the attention on maritime transpor- The current year (2019) marks the 150th anniversary tation, considered in its last evolutionary step, “trans-in- of the Suez Canal inauguration: this event represents an dustrial” (Vallega 1997). opportunity for some considerations on the role of this It is at the core of the global freight distribution in waterway. terms of ability to carry goods over long distances and The paper provides an overview of the emerging at low costs; maritime transportation has become a truly transport geography of sea freight passing through the global entity with routes that span across hemispheres, Suez Canal. forwarding raw materials, parts and finished goods As Ulmann and Mayer (1954, 311) wrote, “transpor- (Rodrigue, Browne 2008). tation is a measure of the relations between areas and is The actual configuration of the maritime transport has therefore an essential part of geography”. led to the progressive transformation of the harbour spaces Yet shifting from “transport” to “transport geog- and their hinterland. Besides, it is important to underline raphy”, in literature there are many definitions of what the existence of a strong link between infrastructures (like transport geography could (or should) do (Dobruszkes canals and ports), international trade, territorial structures 2012). and geo-political dynamics (Sellari 2013). Transport geography is a widening field and trans- For the methodological reasons explained above, port geographers have been working in two major direc- in the first part of the paper the attention is focused on tions (Hoyle, Knowles 1998; Knowles et al. 2008). the role of choke points and on the evolution of the Suez On the one hand, focusing on transport networks, Canal as a maritime choke point of a global relevance facilities and services themselves; on the other hand, (Bencardino, Giordano 2017; Greco, Cresta 2018). they have studied the impact of transports on societies, In fact, the paper aims to highlight the geo-political economy and environment (Dobruszkes 2012). and geo-economic relevance of the Suez Canal from its In the present work, we have chosen to rely on the construction (1869) until its recent expansion (2015). following definition of transport geography: Using the methodological approach of transport Transport geography is a sub-discipline of geography con- geography, it is possible to underline, first of all, the stra- cerned about movements of freight, people and informa- tegic importance of the Suez Canal in the global mari- tion. It seeks to link spatial constraints and attributes with time trade and its impact on the centrality of the Medi- the origin, the destination, the extent, the nature and the terranean Sea. purpose of movements (Rodrigue et al. 2006, 5). Then, the second part of the article highlights how the freight traffic crossing the Suez Canal can affect the Within this mainstream vision, transport geogra- Northern Mediterranean ports that are located mainly phy should analyse the cross interactions between “spac- in Northern Italy. es” and “transports”; this is relevant from the local to The final goal is to describe how the new infrastruc- the global level. In other words, transport geographers ture of the channel is definitely important for the gate- should analyse how the milieu produces and constraints way functions of the Northern Italy ports. transports and how transports affect the milieu they In particular, the research is focused on the Genoa serve or they go through (Dobruszkes 2012). harbour, considered the gateway port for North-western This means that transport geography examines the Italy. To this end, the paper analyses its network of com- movement of people, goods, and information within or mercial connections and the share of freight flows that across different regions. In other words, it analyses the passes through the Suez Canal. A Geographical Overview of the Suez Canal Freight Flows: an Impact on the Mediterranean Sea and the Genoa port 17 The paper aims to stimulate the interest for the sys- canals. Considering the characteristics of seaborne tem of maritime and harbour relations with the Suez flows, maritime choke points are particularly prevalent Canal still understudied at the level of Northern Italy. (Rodrigue 2004). The recent developments of the so-called “Silk Road” There are two major types of choke points where require further analysis taking into account the rele- ships engaged into global and local trades converge: vance of flows along the East-West global trade route natural straits and man made canals. On the one hand, and the weight of the Northern Italy ports and the straits were given to seafarers by nature. On the other Genoa one in particular. hand, artificial waterways, built with or without locks according to the local topographical conditions, were or will be added to the world-shipping network in order 2. The strategic role of maritime canals and the history to offer other significant shortcuts on interoceanic or of the Suez Canal regional routes (Charlier et al. 2015). With the increase of world trade and maritime circulation, many choke The Suez Canal is one of the world’s most critical points have become extremely valuable resources and waterways. Connecting the Mediterranean to the Red represent some of the most important strategic locations Sea across the Isthmus of Suez, it is an artificial water- in the world (Rodrigue 2004). way, being the longest canal in the world without locks. For these reasons, choke points are a prominent Actually, it represents a strategic world’s choke point.