Convoys: ships reaching the canal drop anchor in a cluster at the Port Said anchorage (southbound) or the Suez Bay anchorage (northbound), engines off. Every 90 s a convoy leaves each way at once; a ship arriving within 10 s after its convoy left still joins it. The toll (25% of the leg's base pay) is paid as the convoy leaves; a ship without the money stays at anchor for the next one ("waiting for toll money", red dot on the Ships tab). Recovery boats join convoys but pay nothing.
Convoy ships enter one after another, fastest first, and sail at half their own speed. In the single-lane stretches they keep 1.6 nm behind the ship ahead (no overtaking); in the doubled stretches they can pass. A ship won't enter a single-lane stretch while a ship the other way is in it, and waits in the doubled stretch before it. The two convoys normally meet in the long doubled middle. A ship held up behind a slower one burns fuel and wears only for the distance it makes, so the fuel check before leaving port (which counts the half-speed canal) always holds.
Supertankers are too deep for Suez fully loaded: they unload 25% of their cargo to pass (like the real SUMED pipeline), so the leg pays 25% less, and the toll is on the reduced pay.
Deliveries through Suez get +50% XP. No breakdowns between the anchorages and the exit.
On the map: the canal is drawn as one channel in single-lane stretches and two side by side in doubled ones (ships keep right); ships at anchor sit in rings round the anchorage. Zoomed in: "Port Said anchorage · next convoy 45 s" and "Suez Bay anchorage ·...", plus Great Bitter Lake, New Suez Canal and Ismailia. Clicking the canal or an anchorage opens a popup: time to the next convoys, and each way the ships at anchor, those waiting for toll money, those entering, and the convoy under way.
Ship status: "At Port Said anchorage, next southbound convoy in 45 s", "Joining the southbound Suez Canal convoy (2nd in line to enter)", "In the southbound Suez Canal convoy (3rd of 7), held behind Big Blue", "Waiting in a passing stretch for the northbound convoy to clear".
The route screen shows each Suez leg's toll, +50% XP, "up to 1 min 30 s waiting for a convoy", and a Supertanker's "unloads 25% to pass".
Maritime Empire