It Works

Egypt has so many civil servants that U.S. consultants have recommended firing 60% of them in order to relieve the bureaucratic jam. Egypt's poorly maintained air, rail and road transport systems are in a sorry state. Such basics as rice, matches and meat are scarce. The cotton crop, afflicted by a bollworm plague this year, is in hock to Soviet-bloc countries to pay for the delivery of factories, which the Egyptians manage inefficiently. In fact, there is only one thing that really works in Egypt--the Suez Canal. Because its foreign-exchange earnings are vital, the canal has been given a free hand to recruit the best men available and operate without bureaucratic interference.

When President Gamal Abdel Nasser seized the canal from its British and French owners, the Times of London, in a typical Western view, declared: "An international waterway of this kind cannot be worked by a nation of as low technical and managerial skills as the Egyptians." Now, ten years after Nasser's nationalization, it is clear that the Egyptians are, if anything, better capable of running the canal than the old Suez Canal Co. was.

Two Collisions. The annual report of the new Suez Canal Authority, published last week, shows that 20,289 ships passed through the canal last year, compared with 14,466 in 1955, the year before nationalization. Tonnage has more than doubled, and revenues have almost doubled. Canal Authority Chairman Mashour Ahmed Mashour expects to earn close to $225 million for Egypt this year and increase tonnage about 10%. There have been only two collisions in ten years.

The canal authority still has problems, but nothing like those of ten years ago. The first chairman, Mahmoud Younes, was given 60 hours' notice by Nasser in July 1956 to start running the canal. Although he had only general civil-engineering experience, the hard-driving Younes overcame the desperate shortage of managers and technicians. But in September, 156 foreign pilots quit, leaving him with 26 Egyptian and seven Greek pilots. By working his pilots 17 hours a day seven days a week, Younes kept ships moving through the canal.

In late October, 1956 came the Anglo-French-Israeli attack, and the canal was blocked by bombing and by hulks sunk by the Egyptians. A U.N. salvage effort, directed by U.S. Lieut. General (ret.) Raymond A. Wheeler, cleared the canal the following April, earlier than expected.

Israeli Grievance. Since then, the canal has been a going concern. Under Younes and Mashour, who succeeded him last October, and with the help of foreign loans, the canal has been widened by 80 ft. and deepened for drafts of 38 ft. instead of 35 ft. Employees are kept on their toes by Mashour, who tours the canal banks every day in a black Chevrolet. The one real grievance against Egypt is that it still bars the canal to Israeli traffic.

Mashour's problem now is to meet the challenge of the superships. The canal is limited, with some exceptions, to ships of up to 75,000 tons and 900 ft. in length. Shipping companies can make more money going around Africa with vessels of 150,000 tons and up than going through the canal with smaller ships.

Last week Mashour announced plans to deepen the draft to 45 ft. by 1975 and open the canal to two-way traffic at a cost of $225 million. Now all he needs is the money. Although the canal earns 60% of Egypt's foreign exchange, Nasser lets it keep only 14% for reinvestment, uses the rest to shore up Egypt's shaky economy.

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