Page "Suez Canal" Paragraph 39

After the opening of the canal, 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 real freight 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 their protocol of 18 December 1873.

This was the origin of the Suez Canal Net Tonnage and the Suez Canal Special Tonnage Certificate still used today.