The Panama Canal

The Panama Canal

1. The panama canal

 It is the canal across the Isthmus of Panama, in Central America, that allows vessels to travel between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans

 The waterway measures 82 km (50 mi), including dredged approach channels at each end.

 The Panama Canal handles a large volume of world shipping and enables vessels to avoid traveling around South America, reducing their voyages by thousands of miles and many days

 Built by the United States from 1904 to 1914, the Panama Canal posed major engineering challenges

 The canal consists of artificially created lakes, channels, and a series of locks, or water-filled chambers, that raise and lower ships through the mountainous terrain of central Panama

 It was the largest and most complex project of this kind ever undertaken at that time, employing tens of thousands of workers and costing $350 million

 The canal cuts through the central and most populated region of Panama, and it has been a point of dispute between the governments of Panama and the United States through most of its existence.

 Under a 1903 treaty, the United States controlled both the waterway and a large section of the surrounding land, known as the Panama Canal Zone,

 riots and international pressure led the United States to negotiate two new treaties, which were signed in 1977 and took effect in 1979. The treaties recognized Panama's ultimate ownership of the canal

1. Traveling through the panama

 The canal consists of dredged approaches and three sets of sets of locks at each end;

 The canal employs about 240 highly trained and experienced pilots to handle the complex job of steering ships through the waterway. As soon as the pilot takes over, the ship is under canal jurisdiction.

 Very large or hard-to-maneuver ships may require two or more pilots and assistance from tugboats.

 The ship travels south-southeast about 7 miles and enters the first lock at Gatún

 Line handlers at the lock attach steel mooring cables that are controlled by powerful electric locomotives, called mules. The mules guide the ship through the locks and steady it while the chambers are filled with water

 To conserve water, smaller ships often go through the locks together

 The entire trip through the canal takes between 8 and 10 hours plus waiting time.

 The canal operates 24 hours a day year-round. Each ship that travels through the canal pays a toll based on its capacity