The canal has no locks due to the flat terrain, and the minor sea level difference between each end is inconsequential.

There is one shipping lane with passing areas in Ballah-Bypass near El Qantara and in the Great Bitter Lake.
On a typical day, three convoys transit the canal, two southbound and one northbound. The first southbound convoy enters the canal in the early morning hours and proceeds to the Great Bitter Lake, where the ships anchor out of the fairway, awaiting passage of the northbound convoy. The northbound convoy passes the second southbound convoy, which moors in Ballah-Bypass . The passage takes between 11 and 16 hours at a speed of around . The low speed helps prevent erosion of the canal banks by ships' waves.

By 1955 approximately two-thirds of Europe's oil passed through the canal. About 7.5% of world sea trade is carried via the canal today. In 2008, a total of 21,415 vessels passed through the canal and the receipts from the canal totaled $5.381 billion. Average cost per-ship is roughly $250,000.00

New Rules of Navigation that constitute an improvement over the older ones were passed by the board of directors of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) to organise vessels’ and tankers’ transit that came into force as at 1 January 2008.

The most important amendments to the Rules include allowing vessels with 62 ft draught to transit and increasing the allowed breadth from 32m up to 40m following improvement operations, as well as imposing a fine on vessels using divers without permission from outside the SCA inside the canal boundaries.

The amendments also allow vessels loaded with dangerous cargo, such as radioactive or inflammable materials, to transit after bringing conformity with the latest amendments provided by international conventions.

The SCA will also have the right to determine the number of tugs required to assist warships transiting the Canal to achieve the highest degree of safety during transit.

Timeline
Operation
History of Suez Canal
Presidents of the Suez Canal Company (1858-1956)