Why No Bridge Connects Europe and Africa

Technical Shamil

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00:00The Strait of Gibraltar, which was known as the Ancient Greeks and Romans Pillars of Hercules,

00:06is a narrow channel that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea.

00:11This small ocean channel passes between the two major continents of the world,

00:16which is at least 13 km away.

00:20At this point, Africa and Europe get so close that if you stand on one side and look at it,

00:25you can easily see the other continent.

00:28But so far, no bridge has been built to connect them.

00:33For decades, countless proposals have been given to connect the two continents by land.

00:41This route is very important because it can be used to connect the 45 crore population of the European Union

00:46and the 150 crore population of Africa.

00:51This will have a huge impact on the economy of both continents.

00:55Trade will increase, transportation will improve, and tourism will also increase to a large extent.

01:01But the question is, when there are so many benefits,

01:04then why has no bridge been built on the Strait of Gibraltar yet?

01:09Welcome back to Zem TV's videos.

01:12Viewers, the Strait of Gibraltar connects two important water bodies together,

01:17the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

01:20This strait is about 57 km long,

01:23while it is only 8 miles or 13 km wide from the Serres points of Spain's Tarifa and Morocco.

01:31And speaking of depth, the average depth of the entire strait is about 1200 feet or 365 meters.

01:39The smaller this strait looks, the more important it is,

01:44because it is a natural path between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean.

01:48Contrary to this, if we look at the Swiss Canal,

01:51it provides a path between the man-made canal, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean for ships.

01:57The width of the Swiss Canal is very small,

01:59in which the risk of full-size ships getting stuck has always been low.

02:05The Strait of Gibraltar provides an open path for large cargo ships,

02:10which is why the number of ships passing through here is also quite high.

02:1520,000 ships pass through the Swiss Canal every year,

02:1814,000 pass through the Panama Canal,

02:20and surprisingly more than 100,000 ships pass through the Strait of Gibraltar every year.

02:26Many cargo vessels bring valuable goods from the Western Hemisphere to the Middle East, Africa and Europe,

02:33while some cross the Swiss Canal and reach Asia and China.

02:38Similarly, ships have to use the Strait of Gibraltar to go from the Middle East to Western Europe or America.

02:46And because the Strait of Gibraltar is close to fossil fuel-rich countries,

02:50oil vessels pass through here every day.

02:54According to a report, about 300 oil vessels pass through the strait daily,

02:59whose cost is billions of dollars.

03:02The Strait of Gibraltar is an important trading route for global markets,

03:06and this is why the employment of nearby countries is also linked.

03:10Spain's Algeciras port, which is Europe's largest shipping port,

03:15and the Tenger port in Morocco, are also increasing rapidly.

03:19In view of these financial benefits from trade and tourism,

03:23many people are surprised that why no bridge has yet been built to connect these two parts of the world.

03:30It is not that this has not been thought about.

03:34Since 1979, many feasibility studies and proposals have been given,

03:39but there are some issues due to which it will not be so easy to build a bridge here.

03:44First of all, let's talk about the cost of this bridge.

03:47According to estimates, the cost of building a bridge on the Strait of Gibraltar can go up to 5 billion to 20 billion dollars.

03:54Because this bridge will be very difficult compared to the other major bridges in the world.

03:59First of all, whatever bridge has to be built here,

04:02it should be designed in such a way that even the world's largest ship can easily pass from below.

04:08Which is easy to say, but probably very difficult to do.

04:12Let's talk about why this is difficult later, but who will bear the cost of 5 to 20 billion dollars?

04:19Obviously, the countries benefiting from the Strait of Gibraltar will have to pay this cost,

04:25i.e. Spain and Morocco.

04:27But so far, the political leadership of these two countries has never been able to agree on anything.

04:33Spain says that if Morocco benefits more from the bridge, it should bear more costs,

04:38while Morocco's leadership wants this cost to be 50-50.

04:43The second issue is the feasibility of the bridge, i.e. how beneficial it will be after it is built.

04:49For example, if we talk about the channel tunnel between the UK and France,

04:54it cost 14.5 billion US dollars.

04:58But every year, more than 2 crore passengers use this tunnel.

05:03One passenger can reach France from the UK for 121 pounds or 150 US dollars.

05:10That is, every year this tunnel earns about 30 billion dollars,

05:15double its construction cost.

05:17Similarly, if a bridge is built on the Strait of Gibraltar,

05:21will it earn enough to easily pay the cost of the bridge?

05:26This is seen with a lot of doubt,

05:29because Morocco is a country whose GDP is only 130 billion dollars,

05:35which is half that of Pakistan.

05:37If a bridge of 5 billion US dollars is built here,

05:40and at least 20 dollars in fees,

05:43then where 2 crore passengers use the channel tunnel from the UK to France every year,

05:49the cost of the Strait of Gibraltar bridge can be deducted by 25 crore passengers every year,

05:57which is a very unrealistic number.

06:00The next issue is the construction of the bridge.

06:03As you know, the Strait of Gibraltar is a very busy road for ships.

06:08Keeping this in mind, a bridge has to be built here that does not disturb this traffic.

06:14For this, the height of the bridge will have to be kept quite high,

06:17which will be a big challenge for the engineers.

06:21The average depth of the Strait of Gibraltar is 1200 feet,

06:25but at some places it is more than 3000 feet.

06:29That is, the tallest building in the world is more than Burj Khalifa.

06:34To date, the world's largest bridge pillars have been built in the Millau Viaduct,

06:39and their height is only 1104 feet.

06:43So it will be a task for the engineers to build even the 3000-feet-tall pillars in the Strait of Gibraltar under water,

06:50which is very scary.

06:52And the strong currents of water here are not the same.

06:57At the bottom of the ocean, the water flows from east to west,

07:01and on the surface, from west to east.

07:04That is, if such tall pillars are built here,

07:07then they will have to bear the pressure of water from both sides.

07:11But this bridge will face the biggest danger

07:14not from the world's largest pillar standing in the water,

07:17but from the tectonic plate of the earth.

07:20Yes, the crust of our earth is made up of different sections,

07:24which are called tectonic plates,

07:26and they are always moving.

07:28And where these plates meet each other,

07:31earthquakes, i.e. earthquakes, are very common.

07:35Unfortunately, the place where African and Eurasian plates meet,

07:39is the Strait of Gibraltar.

07:42That is, even if a bridge is built here,

07:44its consequences can be very dangerous.

07:47Surviving earthquakes in this region is only a matter of time.

07:51In 1755, the Lisbon earthquake occurred,

07:54which had a magnitude of 8.5 to 9 on the Rector scale.

07:58Because of this, there was a lot of destruction in Portugal, Spain and Morocco.

08:03Similarly, in 1960, the Agadir earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 occurred,

08:08which destroyed Agadir and Morocco.

08:11That is, building a bridge on the Strait of Gibraltar means

08:15that it will have to face the high currents of the Atlantic Ocean,

08:19and it will also have to tolerate the 9 or 10 magnitude earthquakes.

08:24In addition to all these dangers,

08:26the ocean floor of the Strait of Gibraltar is also not stable.

08:30Researchers say that there are soft layers of the fort below the strait

08:34that cannot support any structure.

08:37These soft clays can easily move here and there

08:40during geological activity or under any kind of pressure.

08:44Geologists have warned that any construction project in this area

08:49can be destroyed due to these clay channels.

08:54But this does not mean that both continents cannot be connected in any way.

08:59Many alternatives have also been given,

09:01such as a tunnel passing under the ocean floor.

09:05Like the Channel Tunnel between the UK and France.

09:08But this will increase the cost of the project even more,

09:11which raises questions on the feasibility of this project.

09:16On the other hand, Spain and European Union countries believe

09:19that after building a tunnel or bridge,

09:21the number of African refugees or illegal immigrants in Europe will increase,

09:27which can be very difficult to control.

09:30These are the reasons why,

09:32despite the fact that there is no distance between the two continents on the Strait of Gibraltar,

09:37no bridge has ever been built here.

09:40We hope you will like and share this video of ZemTV.

09:45Thank you very much for your loving comments.

09:48See you in the next video.

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