Editing Suez Canal (section)

====Initial difficulties (1869–1871)====
[[File:L'inauguration du canal de Suez, 17 November 1869 Gal18 riou 001f.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|''Inauguration ceremony of the Suez canal at Port Said, 17 November 1869'', by French artist [[Édouard Riou]].]]
Although numerous technical, political, and financial problems had been overcome, the [[Cost overrun|final cost]] was more than double the original estimate.

The Khedive, in particular, was able to overcome initial reservations held by both British and French creditors by enlisting the help of the [[Sursock family]], whose deep connections proved invaluable in securing much international support for the project.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kassir |first=Samir |year=2011 |orig-year=2010 |title=Beirut |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=97owDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 |translator=M. B. DeBevoise |edition=1st |location=Berkeley, Calif. |publisher=University of California Press |page=127 |isbn=9780520271265 |oclc=1083962708 |access-date=25 July 2019 |archive-date=18 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818212454/https://books.google.com/books?id=97owDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fawaz |first=Leila Tarazi |year=1983 |title=Merchants and Migrants in Nineteenth-Century Beirut |url=http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=152780 |series=Harvard Middle Eastern Studies no. 18 |page=92 |isbn=9780674569256 |oclc=993333677 |access-date=25 July 2019 |archive-date=16 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151116121306/http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=152780 |url-status=live }}</ref>

After the opening, the Suez Canal Company was in financial difficulties. The remaining works were completed only in 1871, and traffic was below expectations in the first two years. De Lesseps therefore tried to increase revenues by interpreting the kind of net ton referred to in the second concession (''tonneau de capacité'') as meaning a ship's cargo capacity and not only the theoretical [[net tonnage]] of the "[[Moorsom System]]" introduced in Britain by the Merchant Shipping Act in 1854. The ensuing commercial and diplomatic activities resulted in the International Commission of Constantinople establishing a specific kind of net tonnage and settling the question of tariffs in its protocol of 18 December 1873.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/documentsdiplom21trgoog#page/n125/mode/1up Protocol of the Commission] (in Ffrench)</ref> This was the origin of the Suez Canal Net Tonnage and the Suez Canal Special Tonnage Certificate, both of which are still in use today.