Chapter 541 Frozen Planet
Suez Canal.
To be precise, it is the First Suez Canal, because there are currently two Suez Canals.
The Second Suez Canal is the one that was dug independently by the Sapiens Company, while the First Suez Canal is the old canal.
Recently, the First Suez Canal has stopped shipping services. There are many reasons for the suspension of shipping services.
Sapiens Inc. and the free world do not have a good relationship. In order to avoid the Suez Canal controlled by Sapiens Inc., the free world is trying every means to bypass the Suez Canal.
For example, investing in the construction of the Mediterranean-Dead Sea-Red Sea Canal, building an overland oil and gas pipeline in West Asia, constructing a Eurasian railway, or using the Arctic route and the North Pacific route.
After various plans, the shipping volume in the Suez Canal dropped rapidly, and only the ships of the Homo Sapiens Company and some marginal worlds would pass through the Suez Canal.
The First Suez Canal, with its aging facilities and relatively low standards, now has very few ships passing through it and only serves as a supplement and backup channel for the Second Suez Canal.
After all, the first Suez Canal's channel depth is only 22.5 meters, and its width is not enough. It takes 14 to 16 hours to navigate the more than 100-kilometer channel.
The newly built Second Suez Canal by Sapiens has a single-lane channel width of 860 to 900 meters and an average depth of 35 meters, which is sufficient to accommodate giant ships of 500,000 tons.
More importantly, the flight only takes 7 to 8 hours.
Therefore, with the commissioning of the Second Suez Canal, the First Suez Canal was naturally neglected.
However, this is not the main reason why the First Suez Canal was recently shut down.
The main reason why Sapiens stopped using the First Suez Canal was the drop in sea levels.
As the ice sheets in Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean gradually expand, and as plateau and mountain glaciers around the world begin to develop again, more and more water resources are being trapped in ice layers and ice sheets.
This caused the sea level to begin to drop. According to current data, the sea level drops by about 12 centimeters per month on average.
At this time, the global sea level has dropped by about 1.8 meters.
If the global cooling trend cannot be reversed, the global sea level will drop by an average of 1.4 to 1.5 meters per year in the future until the peak of the ice age.
According to previous geological historical data, under normal circumstances, the global sea level during the peak of the ice age would be about 90 to 100 meters lower than the sea level in 2020.
Of course, this is under normal circumstances. If we encounter individual extreme situations, the sea level may drop by 200 meters.
According to this situation, we have just entered the ice age, and it is estimated that it will take about 50 years to develop to the peak of the ice age.
Moreover, the development of ice sheets and glaciers during the ice age has a characteristic, which is that it is relatively rapid in the early stages and becomes slower and slower in the later stages.
According to conservative estimates, it may take about 100 years for this ice age to reach its peak.
Therefore, the depth of the First Suez Canal is only 20.7 meters at this time, and it is still continuing to decline. This depth is not conducive to navigation.
In addition, there were not many transport ships using this canal, so the company decided to directly stop using the First Suez Canal and upgrade this old canal.
In fact, this is also a problem that all major waterways in the world will face in the future, especially those with an average water depth of less than 120 meters. As the world cools, the sea level will gradually drop, and these waterways will be difficult to use.
For example, the Black Sea Strait, which is nominally controlled by the Ottoman Empire, has a large section of the channel with a depth of less than 120 meters.
Even the two Central American canals that use locks must find a way to readjust the waterway and even add a few locks before they can be barely navigable.
The same problem will occur in the Strait of Malacca and the Kra Canal.
Fortunately, the canal excavation technology of the Sapiens Company is very powerful. As the sea level drops, the canal can be continuously deepened to ensure the normal navigation of the canal.
This is also the reason why the free world gave up digging the Mediterranean-Dead Sea-Red Sea Canal. Even if it is dug now, the sea level will continue to drop in the future, and whether it will be able to be navigated stably has become an uncertain thing.
In addition, the Mediterranean-Dead Sea-Red Sea Canal has another fatal weakness , which is another exit of the Red Sea - the Main Strait.
The depth of a part of the Main Strait is also less than 120 meters, which means that the Red Sea will become a closed saltwater lake in the future.
Even if the free world tries its best to deepen the Mediterranean-Dead Sea-Red Sea Canal, once the Strait of Main becomes land, there will still be no way to pass through the Red Sea.
As for whether Sapiens will dig the Mein Canal.
The answer is of course yes.
However, the Main Canal dug by the Homo Sapiens Company is still navigable by ships from the free world.
Therefore, the free world has to re-evaluate the strategic value of the Mediterranean-Dead Sea-Red Sea Canal. Instead of spending time on this, it would be better to invest in expanding the Eurasian Railway.
Now the free world really needs to upgrade and transform the Eurasian Railway and expand its cargo transportation capacity.
After all, the Arctic route that Lucia had high hopes for is now abandoned, and the freezing period of the Arctic Ocean is getting longer and longer.
According to the current trend, the Bering Strait could be completely covered by the ice sheet. After it becomes a semi-permanent ice sheet, the Arctic route would lose the possibility of navigation.
With no other options, the four major forces could only find ways to use railways and roads as a substitute.
But as September passed quietly.
The situation around the world is becoming clearer.
The Europa League and Russia, which have suffered severe agricultural production cuts due to extreme weather, have entered the cold winter ahead of schedule.
Especially in northern Europe, it was covered with snow and ice as early as the end of August. In October, heavy snow fell in the entire Baltic region.
The Arctic ice cap is expanding southwards little by little from northern Europe, although for a time, many of the ice caps will not become semi-permanent, but only seasonal ice caps.
But the problem is that this year's North Atlantic warm current shows no signs of returning to normal. Without the warm water vapor from the North warm current, Western Europe's temperate oceanic climate has turned into a temperate continental climate, and even some areas at higher latitudes have turned into a frigid climate.
Berlin.
The first snowstorm of autumn covered the entire city in a blanket of silver.
However, this scene is a bit cruel.
Berlin is rapidly entering winter mode, and many people have to turn on the heating in advance.
The genetically modified corn that is sold or given away in America is made into feed, alcohol, and fructose corn syrup and supplied to farmers and agricultural companies.
Coupled with the low-priced natural gas purchased from Russia, the production costs of many European companies have been barely lowered.
Cheap light industrial products from Serris that come via the Eurasian Railway also alleviate the problem of insufficient supply in the local market.
The Europa League also reluctantly increased subsidies for some products.
This barely suppressed the spread of the bankruptcy wave and stabilized domestic prices once again.
However, the early cooling in the Northern Hemisphere still makes the European Union and Lucia feel very troublesome.
In order to cope with frequent extreme weather and global cooling, major forces have held frequent meetings recently.
Human beings are still too fragile in the face of the mighty forces of nature.
Except for the Homo sapiens company entrenched in the equatorial region, other forces are feeling tremendous pressure.
While taking advantage of this golden opportunity, the Sapiens company is actively recruiting natural persons, and is also rapidly building the stratospheric railway around the equator.
