Starting in 1955, Ackermans & van Haaren helped modernize one of the world's most important waterways: the Suez Canal. Over six years, the company participated in a series of dredging and widening campaigns at Port Said, the Great Bitter Lake, and the southern section of the canal, excavating millions of cubic meters of material and helping create new bypass channels that improved navigation.

As one of the world's most critical trade routes, the canal carried much of the oil destined for Europe. The works formed part of a broader program to widen, deepen, and improve the route, allowing larger vessels to pass more efficiently between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Between 1955 and 1961 alone, Ackermans & van Haaren contributed to bypass, widening, and deepening projects involving more than 19 million m³ of dredging works.

These early projects marked the first chapter in a long Suez story. Over the decades, the company would return repeatedly to help modernize one of the world's busiest and most strategically important waterways.