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Why was control of the Suez Canal important during the North Africa campaigns?

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Map showing the British and Axis military campaigns in North Africa during World War II, with labeled troop movements, key battles, and shifting front lines from Egypt across Libya to Tunisia along the Mediterranean coast. The map includes arrows and dates marking advances and retreats by both sides, and highlights major turning points and defensive lines. — North Africa campaigns Military drives, defensive lines, and key battles during the North Africa campaigns of World War II, 1940–43.

During the North Africa campaigns of World War II, the Suez Canal was of vital strategic importance because it served as the shortest maritime route between Europe and the lands surrounding the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean.12

By providing a direct link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, the canal allowed Allied forces to avoid the arduous and time-consuming journey around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. Although the canal was theoretically open to all nations, the naval and military superiority of the Allied forces during World War II effectively denied its use to the shipping of Germany and its allies, thereby securing a critical logistical advantage for the Allied war effort.134