Author(s): Karima Mahmoud Attia
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Nile; River engineering; Navigation management; Inland navigation; Navigation channel dimensions; Navigational infrastructure in the Nile
Abstract: Improving channels for inland navigation is considered of high priority for many countries by the fact that water transport is relatively inexpensive. It is estimated that the force required to move a tone of goods by rail is about ten times as large as that required to move it by ship. The River Nile is considered the main route of inland navigation in Egypt because most of the monuments are located along the Nile banks. That highlights the importance of inland navigation in the development of tourism infrastructures, in terms of navigation safety as well as the country economical growth. Therefore, continuous effort has been done to satisfy local needs which required a rapid response by undertaking required bathymetric surveys for dredging purposes to provide sufficient depth of water for safe navigation in many parts of the river. However, till now there no complete navigational system in use in the Nile to guide vessels in a safe day and night navigation. This paper introduces a brief description of the navigation status on the Nile River. Infrastructures as well as ongoing project are highlighted. The dimensions of the different vessels and ships using the Nile for navigation are analyzed and discussed. The economical dimensions of the fairway related to vessel dimension are premeditated. Many alternatives related to design ship dimensions are discussed. The study concluded that the channel dimension should be tuned with the ship dimensions and capacity, therefore many navigation channel dimensions should be allocated according to the vessel dimension using the path. Some special requirements for improving navigation status in the Nile are also argued.
Year: 2004