A day in the lives of the Suez Canal ferry boat users

CAIRO – 6 June 2017: Arabie Khalaf puts two empty sandwiches in his lunch box, before leaving his house to feed them to seagulls during his daily trip between the two banks of Suez Canal.

Khalaf works in the center of Port Said, and he lives in Port Fouad, so he uses the ferry to get to Port Said every day, going from one bank of the canal to the other. On the ferry, he practices his hobby of feeding the seagulls. The Port Fouad ferry carries almost 100,000 persons daily including university students, Port Fouad residents and workers in east Port Said projects. On both sides of the anchorage, there are a lot of people fishing, feeding seagulls and watching ferries and ships; whereby this whole scene around the ferry sums up life in Port Said.

Khalaf states that, living in a course of navigation is not a problem for him because of the presence of ferries which are considered the main means of transportation.
The Suez Canal ferries have found a competitor since the opening of Al-Nasr bridge that is located in Al-Rasswa area, south of Port Said, but the bridge is more specialized for trucks than for cars or buses.

Khalaf added that the Port Fouad ferry is one of the most important ferries in Egypt, even though there are other ferries in Egypt such as those in Ismailia and Al-Qantara. However, the Port Fouad ferry is the most famous for its wonderful view of the dome building of the Suez Canal administration and the touristic port.

Mohamed Adel, an engineering student at Port Said University, said that he uses the ferry to go through the Suez Canal every day, and that he actually sees it as a means of entertainment as he spends a lot of time with his friends on the ferry to enjoy watching sunset.

The entrance of the Port Said ferry was developed to have more lanes for cars; however there is still a problem with the car entrance from Port Said that leads to traffic jam in the peak hours.


If you want to be surrounded by birds that is the place to be.


The parking slots for the transportation ships in the Port-Fouad banks


watching such view everyday ride is breath taking