The Panama Canal is a ship canal that traverses the Isthmus of Panama, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The construction of the canal was one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken. Ships no longer have to travel the long route via Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America. A ship sailing from New York to San Francisco via the canal travels 9,500 kilometres (6,000 mi), well under half the distance of the previous 22,500 kilometre (14,000 mi) route around Cape Horn.
Although the possibility of building a canal was mooted in the 16th century, the first attempt to construct a canal began in 1880 under French leadership. After this attempt collapsed, the work was completed by the United States (see history of Panama), and the canal opened in 1914. The building of the 77 kilometre (48 mi) canal had to overcome disease ( malaria and yellow fever) and massive landslides. It is believed that up to 27,500 workers died during construction of the canal. The original elevation was 312 feet above sea level where it crosses the Continental Divide in the rugged mountain range.
Each year the canal sees some 14,000 ships traverse it. They are carrying more than 203 million tonnes of cargo.Of the vessels transiting the Canal each year, about 23 percent of the total ocean-going transits are by PANAMAX-size vessels, the largest vessels the waterway can accommodate.
It takes about 9 hours for an average ship to transit the Canal. There are three sets of twin locks, Gatun Lake, and Culebra Cut for ships to pass through.
At Gatun Locks a ship is raised or lowered 85 feet in a flight of three steps. Each lock chamber is 110 feet wide and 1,000 feet long. The length of Gatun Locks, including approach walls, is one and a half miles.
Gatun Lake, through which the ships travel for 23 and a half miles from Gatun Locks to the north end of Culebra Cut, covers an area of 163.38 square miles and was formed by damming the Chagres River near Gatun Locks.
Culebra Cut slices through the Continental Divide. This portion of the channel is about eight miles long and was carved through rock and shale for most of the distance. It was here that most of the excavation was required and here that the landslides occurred during construction and soon after the Canal was opened. More than any other section of th Canal, the Cut gives the impression of the waterway as an enormous ditch.
Pedro Miguel Locks at the south end of Culebra Cut lower Pacific bound ships by 31 feet in one step to Miraflores Lake, a small artificial lake a mile wide that separates the two sets of Pacific locks. The length of Pedro Miguel Locks if 5/6 of a mile.
Miraflores Locks then lower the ship the remaining two steps to sea level at, which are slightly over a mile in length. The lock gates at Miraflores are the tallest of any in the system because of the large tidal variation in the Pacific Ocean.
Tours of the Canal
Full Panama Canal transit, your tour ship makes it way up to Miraflores Locks, and after transiting the Miraflores Locks, it cruises through the famous Cut. During your transit, you pass the Smithsonian Institute's Barro Colorado Island and witness beautiful jungle scenery and wildlife. The vessel arrives at Cristobal, on the Atlantic (Caribbean) side of the Canal in mid afternoon, (depending on Canal traffic) where a bus will return you back to Panama City
Partial Panama Canal transits cruise through both Pacific sets of locks (Miraflores and Pedro Miguel), and the Cut.
Panama Canal in Wikipedia