What channels are in South America? Who controls the Panama Canal? We need this
Panama Canal- a shipping canal connecting the Gulf of Panama of the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, located on the Isthmus of Panama in the territory of the state of Panama. Length - 81.6 km, including 65.2 km on land and 16.4 km along the bottom of the Panama and Limon bays (for the passage of ships to deep water).
The construction of the Panama Canal was one of the largest and most complex construction projects undertaken by mankind. Panama Canal had an invaluable influence on the development of shipping and the economy as a whole in the Western Hemisphere and throughout the Earth, which determined its extremely high geopolitical significance. Thanks to the Panama Canal, the sea route from New York to San Francisco was reduced from 22.5 thousand km to 9.5 thousand km.
The canal allows the most vessels to pass through it. different types- from private yachts to huge tankers and container ships. The maximum size of a ship that can transit the Panama Canal has become a de facto standard in shipbuilding, called Panamax.
Vessels are guided through the Panama Canal by the Panama Canal Pilot Service. The average time for a vessel to pass through the canal is 9 hours, the minimum is 4 hours 10 minutes. Maximum throughput is 48 vessels per day. Every year, about 17.5 thousand ships carrying more than 203 million tons of cargo pass through the canal structures. By 2002, more than 800 thousand vessels had already used the canal’s services.
In December 2010, the canal was closed to ships for the first time in 95 years due to bad weather and rising water levels as a result of incessant rainfall.
Story
Construction of the canal in 1888
Panama Canal Promotion
The original plan to build a canal connecting the two oceans dates back to the 16th century, but King Philip II of Spain banned the consideration of such projects, since “what God has united, man cannot separate.” In the 1790s. the canal project was developed by Alessandro Malaspina, his team even surveyed the canal construction route.
With the growth of international trade, interest in the canal revived by the early 19th century; in 1814, Spain passed a law establishing an interoceanic canal; in 1825, a similar decision was made by the Congress of Central American States. The discovery of gold in California caused increased interest in the canal problem in the United States, and in 1848, under the Hayes Treaty, the United States received a monopoly right in Nicaragua to build all types of interoceanic communication routes. Great Britain, whose possessions adjoined Nicaragua, hastened to curb the expansion of the United States by concluding with them the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty in 1850 on a joint guarantee of the neutrality and security of the future interoceanic canal. Throughout the 19th century, two main options for the direction of the canal appeared: through Nicaragua (see Nicaraguan Canal) and through Panama.
However, the first attempt to build a shipping route on the Isthmus of Panama dates back only to 1879. The initiative in developing the Panama version was seized by the French. At that time, the attention of the United States was mainly attracted to the Nicaraguan variant. In 1879, in Paris, under the chairmanship of the head of the construction of the Suez Canal, Ferdinand Lesseps, the “General Interoceanic Canal Company” was created, the shares of which were purchased by more than 800 thousand people; the company bought from the engineer Wise for 10 million francs the concession for the construction of the Panama Canal, which he received from the Colombian government in 1878. An international congress convened before the formation of the Panama Canal Company favored a sea-level canal; the cost of the work was planned at 658 million francs and the volume of excavation work was envisaged at 157 million cubic meters. yards In 1887, the idea of a lockless canal had to be abandoned in order to reduce the amount of work, since the company’s funds (1.5 billion francs) were spent mainly on bribing newspapers and members of parliament; only a third was spent on work. As a result, the company stopped making payments on December 14, 1888, and work was soon stopped.
Spanish canal workers, early 1900s
Construction of the canal, 1911
In 1902, the US Congress passed a law requiring the President of the United States to purchase the property of the canal company, shares of the Panama Company railroad and a strip of land 10 miles wide from Colombia for the construction, maintenance and operation of the canal with the right of jurisdiction over the said territory. On January 22, 1903, Colombian Ambassador Thomas Herran and US Secretary of State John Hay signed an agreement under which Colombia leased a strip of land to the United States for a period of 100 years for the construction of the Panama Canal. For the sanction of the government of Colombia, which owned the territory of Panama, to transfer the concession, the United States agreed to pay a lump sum of $10 million and then, after 9 years, $250 thousand annually while maintaining Colombia's sovereignty over the Panama Canal zone. These conditions were formalized in the Hay-Herran Treaty, but the Colombian Senate on August 12, 1903 refused to ratify it, since the concession agreement with the French company expired only in 1904, and according to its terms, if the canal did not begin to function by that time, it was Undoubtedly, all the structures erected by the company were transferred free of charge to Colombia. Interested parties in France and the United States now saw the only way out for the state of Panama to break away from Colombia and, as an independent state, formalize the legal transfer of the concession to the United States. The Frenchman Bunau-Varilla led the separatist movement and, with the assistance of the US navy, carried out the secession of Panama on November 4, 1903; On November 18, on behalf of the “Independent Republic of Panama,” he signed a treaty with the United States modeled on the Hay-Herran Treaty. The US conflict with Colombia was resolved only in 1921.
Under the Treaty of 1903, the United States received in perpetual possession "a zone of land and land under water for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitary order and protection of the said canal," as provided for in Article 2 of the Treaty. Article 3 gave the United States all rights as if it were the sovereign of the territory. In addition, the United States became the guarantor of the independence of the Republic of Panama and received the right to maintain order in the cities of Panama and Colon in the event that the Republic of Panama, in the opinion of the United States, was unable to maintain order. The economic side of the Treaty repeated the Hay-Herran Treaty, which was not ratified by Colombia. On behalf of Panama, the agreement was signed by French citizen Philippe Bunau-Varilla 2 hours before the official Panama delegation arrived in Washington.
Construction began under the auspices of the US Department of Defense, and Panama actually became a US protectorate.
In 1900, in Havana, Walter Reed and James Carroll discovered that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes, and proposed a method to reduce the danger of yellow fever by destroying mosquito habitats. Remembering the failure of the first attempt to dig a canal, the Americans sent out a mosquito-hunting campaign Aedes aegypti and malarial mosquitoes - carriers of yellow fever and malaria, respectively - a large expedition led by William Crawford Gorgas - 1,500 people. The scale of their activities is eloquently demonstrated by published data: it was necessary to cut down and burn 30 square kilometers of bushes and small trees, mow and burn grass over the same area, drain a million square yards (80 hectares) of swamps, dig 250 thousand feet (76 km) of drainage ditches and restore 2 million feet (600 km) of old ditches, spray 150 thousand gallons (570 thousand liters) of oils that kill mosquito larvae in breeding areas. As shortly before in Havana, this bore fruit: the prevalence of yellow fever and malaria decreased so much that the diseases ceased to be a hindering factor.
Panama Canal (USA), 1940
The US War Department began construction of the canal in 1904. John Frank Stevens became the canal's chief engineer. This time the right project was chosen: locks and lakes. Construction took 10 years, $400 million and 70 thousand workers, of whom, according to American data, about 5,600 people died. On the morning of October 13, 1913, US President Thomas Woodrow Wilson, in the presence of numerous high-ranking guests gathered at the White House, walked to a special table and pressed a gilded button with a majestic gesture. And at the same instant, a powerful explosion shook the humid tropical air in four thousand kilometers from Washington, on the Isthmus of Panama. Twenty thousand kilograms of dynamite destroyed the last barrier separating the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans near the city of Gamboa. A four thousand kilometer long cable, specially laid from the jumper at Gamboa to the White House, obediently carried out the will of the president.
The first ship (an ocean-going steamer) passed through the canal on August 15, 1914, but a large landslide in October prevented the opening of traffic in the same 1914. To strengthen the defense on the approaches to the canal, the United States acquired nearby islands: the Pacific islands were received from Panama - Margarita, Perque, Naos, Culebra and Flamenco; The islands of St. were purchased from Denmark in 1917 for 25 million dollars. John, St. Cross and St. Thomas; in Nicaragua in 1928 - the Bread Islands and in Colombia - the islands of Roncador and Quitasueño. The official opening of the canal took place only on June 12, 1920.
In August 1945, Japan planned to bomb the canal.
The Panama Canal was controlled by the United States until December 31, 1999, after which it was transferred to the government of Panama.
Channel configuration
Due to the S-shape of the Isthmus of Panama, the Panama Canal is directed from the southwest (Pacific Ocean side) to the northeast (Atlantic Ocean). The canal consists of two artificial lakes connected by canals and deepened river beds, as well as two groups of locks. From the Atlantic Ocean, the three-chamber gateway “Gatun” connects Limon Bay with Lake Gatun. On the Pacific side, the two-chamber Miraflores lock and the single-chamber Pedro Miguel lock connect Panama Bay with the canal bed. The difference between the level of the World Ocean and the level of the Panama Canal is 25.9 meters. Additional water supply is provided by another reservoir - Lake Alajuela
Huge ferry passing through the canal
All canal locks are double-threaded, which ensures the possibility of simultaneous oncoming traffic of ships along the canal. In practice, however, usually both lines of locks work to allow ships through in the same direction. Dimensions of the lock chambers: width 33.53 m, length 304.8 m, minimum depth 12.55 m. Each chamber holds 101 thousand m³ of water. Guidance of large vessels through locks is provided by special small electric-powered railway locomotives called mules(in honor of mules, which previously served as the main draft force for moving barges along rivers).
The canal administration has established the following passage dimensions for vessels: length - 294.1 m (965 ft), width - 32.3 m (106 ft), draft - 12 m (39.5 ft) in fresh tropical water, height - 57, 91 m (190 ft), from waterline to high point vessel In exceptional cases, vessels may be granted permission to pass at a height of 62.5 m (205 ft), provided that the passage is in low water.
Along its length, the canal is crossed by three bridges. A road and a railway have been laid along the canal route between the cities of Panama and Colon.
Payments for channel passage
Canal tolls are officially collected by the Panama Canal Authority - government agency Panama. Duty rates are set depending on the type of vessel.
The amount of duty for container ships is calculated depending on their capacity, expressed in TEU (the volume of a standard 20-foot container). From May 1, 2006, the rate is $49 per TEU.
The amount of payment from other vessels is determined depending on their displacement. For 2006, the fee rate was $2.96 per ton up to 10 thousand tons, $2.90 for each of the subsequent 10 thousand tons and $2.85 for each subsequent ton.
The amount of dues for small vessels is calculated based on their length:
The future of the channel
On October 23, 2006, the results of the referendum on the expansion of the Panama Canal were summed up in Panama, which was supported by 79% of the population. The adoption of this plan was facilitated by the Chinese business structures that manage the channel. By 2014, it will be modernized and will be able to handle oil tankers with a displacement of more than 130 thousand tons, which will significantly reduce the time it takes to deliver Venezuelan oil to China. Just by this time, Venezuela promises to increase oil supplies to China to 1 million barrels per day.
During the reconstruction, it is planned to carry out dredging work and build new, wider locks. As a result, by 2014-2015, supertankers with a displacement of up to 170 thousand tons will be able to pass through the Panama Canal. The maximum throughput of the canal will increase to 18.8 thousand vessels per year, cargo turnover - up to 600 million PCUMS. The reconstruction will cost $5.25 billion. Thanks to it, Panama's budget is expected to receive $2.5 billion in annual revenue from the canal by 2015, and by 2025, revenue will increase to $4.3 billion.
The start of work on the construction of the third group of locks is scheduled for August 25, 2009. The Panama Canal Authority entrusted this work to the consortium GUPC (Grupo Unidos por el Canal), which won the construction tender on July 15, 2008, offering to carry out the necessary work for $3 billion 118 million and complete construction by mid-2014. The main member of this consortium is the Spanish company Sacyr Vallehermoso.
Alternative
The territory of Nicaragua was considered as an alternative route for the interoceanic canal. The first preliminary plans for the Nicaraguan Canal arose in the 17th century.
see also
Notes
Links
- Between two oceans: Poseidon's Gate on the website of the magazine "Popular Mechanics"
- Official website of the Panama Canal Authority (Spanish) (English)
It is difficult to imagine a person who has never heard this phrase. Panama Canal- this is probably the most interesting attraction in Panama; many people come here just for this. I won’t burden you with all sorts of numbers and clever phrases about how long the Panama Canal is or how much fresh water is displaced into the sea during the passage of one ship, I’ll just describe how it looks from the side of an ordinary viewer: how to get there, where to buy a ticket, where to go and everything with in the same spirit...
How to get to the Panama Canal
From Panama City, the best way to get to the Panama Canal is by taxi, no matter how stupid it may sound. From the city center to Miraflores - this is the name of the place where there is an observation deck for tourists to view the Panama Canal, the price of a taxi will be no more than 10 USD. If they ask for more, then they want to fool you, because... 10 USD for Panama is a lot of money.
And here Return trip It’s better to take a regular bus (MetroBus), which costs 0.25 USD, pay the driver, the stop is located right at the exit of the Panama Canal lobby (Centro De Visitantes), which will take you exactly to the Albrook terminal, from which you can use the metro, bus or taxi you can get where you need to go. . The point is that taxi drivers have become insolent and want exorbitant sums of 25-30 USD for the return journey from the canal to the city.
If you go to the canal by bus, you must first get to Albrook, buy a MetroBus card for 2 USD, charge it, and take the MetroBus bus to Miraflores. The bus will take about 2 hours, this is the catch that a taxi travels much faster,
Advice: it is better to take a taxi from Panama to the canal, and back by MetroBus.
How much does it cost to visit the Panama Canal?
After you arrive, you will see the sign Centro De Visitantes, you need to go up the stairs on the right to the observation docks, there will be ticket offices.
Entrance ticket prices are shown on the poster to the right of the ticket office. As you can see, for foreigners the cost is 15 USD, for children from 6 to 12 years old - 10 USD.
The entrance ticket gives you the right to stay on the territory of the observation docks the whole day until closing, i.e. from 9.00 to 16.15. The ticket price includes visiting all open halls, the observation deck, the Panama Canal Museum and watching a 3-D film about the history and construction of the Panama Canal. Schedule of sessions in Spanish and English.
And the highlight of the museum is the fully interactive cabin of a heavy-duty ship that is locking through the Panama Canal in real time. It’s very interesting to watch, you feel like a captain.
Then everyone goes back to why they came here - to the observation decks to watch the locking. There are two observation platforms here: one a little lower, the other one floor above. In principle, it doesn’t matter where you look from, you can see it well from everywhere. The viewing rooms are very large, there is no shortage of space.
From the observation deck you can clearly see the airlock chambers.
In fact, many who come to see the Panama Canal often end their tour at this point without seeing the ships passing through the lock. Because You can wait for a ship for several hours; sometimes locking occurs at night, when naturally there are no tourists. We were lucky, we saw the locking of, although not a heavy cargo, but at least Small yachts and one pleasure boat were locked; they were all specially gathered together so as not to lower the lock several times.
Slowly the water descends from the sluice until the water levels become the same.
Then the sealed flaps open...
On other floors you can buy various souvenirs regarding the Panama Canal and, of course, Panama hats.
I would like to note that souvenirs are quite expensive.
In general, I really liked the Panama Canal, a truly grandiose man-made structure created by man. Very interesting and informative.
Reference
- The Panama Canal connects the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean
- The average time for a ship to pass through the canal is about 9 hours, the minimum is 4 hours 10 minutes
- The maximum throughput of the canal is 48 ships per day
- Price entrance ticket 15 USD
- Time to visit: depends on your interests, but on average 3-4 hours
- How to get there: from Panama to the canal by taxi for 10 USD, back by bus (MetroBus) for 0.25 USD to the Albrook terminal, then by metro.
95 years ago (1914) the Panama Canal was opened.
By 1882 it was actually done preparatory work for the construction of an open, non-sluice-type canal. But Lesseps' company went bankrupt and receivership was appointed in 1889.
In 1894, a new French company for the construction of the Panama Canal was formed, which began working on the construction of a lock canal, and in 1904 the company was sold to the US government for $40 million. In 1903, the Republic of Panama became independent from Colombia and in 1904 the United States agreed with the government of Panama on a perpetual lease of the canal zone, which constitutes a strip of 16 km wide, for an amount of 10 million dollars and an annual fee of 250 thousand dollars.
This amount subsequently increased several times, reaching $110 million in 1998.
Construction of the Panama Canal lasted 11 years. The cost of its construction was $220 million. During the construction of the canal, unique for that time technical solutions. The canal was built as a six-stage lock passage through the mountainous Isthmus of Panama and ran in a northwest to southeast direction from the Atlantic port of Cristobal and the city of Colon to the port of Balboai in Panama on the Pacific coast.
The height of the lock rise is 26 meters, the length of the canal is 80 km, including the artificial channel along with the locks - 42 km. The length of the lock chambers is 305 meters, width - 33.5 meters, which allows the canal to pass approximately 85% of the world's merchant fleet vessels currently in operation (up to 290 meters long, up to 32.5 m wide and draft up to 12 meters).
The first ship passed through the Panama Canal August 15, 1914, but the official opening took place only June 12, 1920, after which the canal actually came into operation.
The Panama Canal eliminated the need for ships to navigate the Strait of Magellan or around Cape Horn and changed the directions of a number of important shipping routes. Highest value it has for connections between the east and west coasts of the USA and Canada, the distance between which has been reduced by 2.5-3 times, between the east coasts of the USA and Far East, as well as between Latin American countries.
In the 20s XX century The Panamanian government raised the issue of transferring the canal under the jurisdiction of Panama. However, a mutually acceptable agreement was reached only in 1977. On September 7, 1977, US President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian President Omar Torrijos signed the treaties “On the Panama Canal” and “On the permanent neutrality of the Panama Canal and its management.” According to the agreement, it was provided that control over the canal, including issues of its management, security and defense, would be transferred to Panama gradually and would be completely transferred to it until December 31, 1999, the day the agreement expired.
On October 23, 1977, the treaties were approved at a national plebiscite in Panama, after which they were ratified by the Panamanian side. When the Panama Canal Neutrality Treaty (March 16, 1978) and the Canal Treaty (April 19, 1978) were ratified, reservations were made to reserve the right of military intervention for the United States to “keep the canal open for navigation.”
There were 14 American military bases in the Panama Canal Zone. The largest of them are the strategic aviation bases Albrook Field and Rio Hato, naval bases in Balboa, Colon and Coco Solo. A military school for training special forces groups for Latin American countries operated at Fort Gulick.
The process of transferring the canal from the United States to Panama lasted almost 20 years, starting in 1980.
In January 1998, the territory known as Kerry Heights, where the headquarters of the US Southern Command was located, was transferred to the jurisdiction of Panama.
On November 1, 1999, a ceremony was held to transfer the territories of the last US military bases in the Howard and Kobe Canal area to the Panamanian government. On December 14, 1999, an official ceremony took place to transfer the canal to the jurisdiction of Panama, but Panama gained real sovereignty over the canal only on December 31, 1999.
From the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 to 2007, more than 922 thousand ships passed through it. On average, more than 14 thousand ships pass through the canal annually (38 per day). Their cargo turnover is measured in special units - “Panama Canal tons” (PCUMS). 1 PCUMS = 1 thousand cubic feet (28.3 cubic meters). Average cargo turnover is 203 million PCUMS.
The main cargo transported is grain, iron and steel, coal, petroleum products, fertilizers, and cars.
The main user countries are the USA, China, Japan, Chile, South Korea, Peru, Canada, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico.
The canal handles 4% of global trade shipping and 16% of US trade shipping. 68% of ships travel through the canal to or from US ports.
The channel is managed by the Panama government agency Autoridad del Canal de Panama (ACP).
According to the canal administration, revenues from the operation of the Panama Canal in fiscal year 2008 amounted to more than $2 billion, compared with 2007, profits increased by 17%.
Tariffs for passage through the Panama Canal are relatively low: $2.57 per net ton for a loaded vessel and $0.86 for an empty one.
The average cost of passage of one vessel is 54 thousand dollars.
Currently, the Panama Canal is capable of passing ships with a displacement of no more than 65 thousand tons and a draft of no more than 12 meters. This makes it impossible to use it by oil supertankers (their displacement reaches 650 thousand tons, draft - 26 meters), as well as by US Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carriers.
In 2007, the Panamanian government announced a tender to modernize the canal.
It was won by a consortium of firms led by the Spanish construction company Sacyr Vallehermoso. The consortium also includes the Italian firm Impregilo, the Belgian Juan de Nul and the Panamanian Constructora Urbana.
Work to modernize the Panama Canal should be completed in 2014 - by the 100th anniversary of its opening.
The $3.118 billion project involves dredging and constructing a third cascade of wider locks.
It is expected that as a result of the modernization of the canal, its maximum capacity will increase to 18.8 thousand ships per year, cargo turnover - to 600 million PCUMS. By 2015, Panama's budget will receive $1.5 billion in revenue from the canal annually, and by 2025 .revenues will increase to 4.3 billion dollars.
The construction of the Panama Canal was one of the largest and most complex construction projects undertaken by mankind. The Panama Canal had an invaluable influence on the development of shipping and the economy as a whole in the Western Hemisphere and throughout the world, which led to its extremely high geopolitical significance. Thanks to the Panama Canal, the sea route from New York to San Francisco was reduced from 22.5 thousand km to 9.5 thousand km.
The narrow isthmus connecting North and South America has been considered a very promising place for creating the shortest route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans since the 16th century. In the 19th century, the development of technology and the need for such a route reached a point where the plan to create a canal through Panama seemed quite feasible.
In the 19th century, the development of technology and the need for such a route reached a point where the plan to create a canal through Panama seemed quite feasible.
1910 Map of the planned canal.
Inspired by the 10-year construction of the Suez Canal, the international company La Société Internationale du Canal Interocéanique in 1879 bought from the engineer Wise for 10 million francs the concession for the construction of the Panama Canal, which he received from the Colombian government, which controlled Panama at that time.
Fundraising for large-scale construction was led by Ferdinand Lesseps. Success with the Suez Canal helped him raise millions for the new project.
Soon after the canal design began, it became clear that this endeavor would be much more difficult to implement than digging a canal at sea level through a sandy desert. After all, the proposed route, 65 kilometers long, passed through rocky and sometimes mountainous terrain, while it was crossed by powerful rivers. And, most importantly, tropical diseases posed enormous health risks to workers.
However, Lesseps' optimistic plan envisaged the construction of a canal costing $120 million in just 6 years. The 40,000-strong team, almost entirely consisting of workers from the West Indies, was headed by engineers from France.
1885 French Panama Canal employees pose for a photograph.
Construction began in 1881.
1885 The workers came to receive their wages.
The Suez experience was of little help. It would probably be better in the long run if they didn't have the Suez Canal in their past.
David McCullough, "The Way Between the Seas"
1885 Jamaican workers push a cart loaded with dirt along a narrow gauge railway.
The project turned out to be a disaster. It quickly became apparent that building a canal at sea level was impossible and that the only workable plan was to build a chain of locks. At the same time, Lesseps stubbornly adhered to the plan to build a single-level canal.
1900 Workers carry out excavation work manually.
Meanwhile, workers and engineers died from malaria, yellow fever and dysentery, and construction was interrupted by frequent floods and landslides. By the time the gateway plan was adopted, it was already too late. An estimated 22,000 workers died. Construction was years behind schedule and cost hundreds of millions over budget.
1910 Abandoned French equipment in the canal zone.
The company went bankrupt and collapsed, destroying the hopes of 800 thousand investors. In 1893, Lesseps was found guilty of fraud and mismanagement and died in disgrace two years later.
1906 A man stands next to an abandoned French dredger.
In 1903, with the secret support of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia and in return awarded the US rights to the canal. The following year, the United States acquired the remains of the French company and continued construction.
1906 President Theodore Roosevelt sits in the cab of a crane during a visit to the canal construction site.
I took the canal zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate continues, the channel does the same.
Theodore Roosevelt
1908 American engineers sent by President Roosevelt.
Faced with the same disease problem as the French, the Americans embarked on an aggressive mosquito eradication campaign. (The link between malaria and mosquitoes was still a very new theory back then). This sharply reduced the incidence of illness and increased productivity.
1910 Mosquito exterminator at work in the canal area.
The channel of the Chagres River was blocked by the Gatun Dam, creating Lake Gatun, the largest artificial lake of those times. It stretches across half of a narrow isthmus.
January 1907. Earthworks at the site of the Gatun lock.
Massive locks were built at both ends of the canal on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. These 33-meter-wide structures allowed ships to pass through a series of chambers with controlled water levels, rising to the height of Gatun Lake and the canal, 26 meters above sea level.
1910
The most difficult was the passage of the 13-kilometer section of Culebra through a mountain range, 64 meters high. 27 thousand tons of dynamite were used to blow up almost 80 million cubic meters of earth removed by steam shovels and trains.
1907 A dredge removes soil after a landslide in Culebra.
Due to an incorrect assessment of the composition of geological strata, excavation work was constantly subject to unpredictable landslides, the consequences of which sometimes took several months to combat.
1910 The railway, displaced after a landslide. 
April 8, 1910. A man stands on the west bank next to the Pedro Miguel Lock under construction. 
November 1910. President William Howard Taft (left) visiting Gatun Lock with Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes (seated right) and Chief Engineer Colonel George Goethals (standing right). 
November 10, 1912. Construction of the Miraflores lock. 
August 1912. A man is standing in one of the locks. 
June 1912. View of the construction of the Culebra section from the western shore. 
August 6, 1912. 
November 1912. View from the top of Gatun Lock looking north towards the Atlantic Ocean. 
June 1913. One of the deepest points on the Culebra stretch. 
1913 
1913 
1913 
November 1913. Workers are struggling with the consequences of a landslide. 
1913 Workers take a break at the top of the lock. 
1913 The train and the crane crossed paths at the Pedro Miguel lock. 
1913 Gateway during construction. 
1913 Engineers stand in front of the canal's massive sluice gates. 
August 8, 1913. Construction of the Gatun Lock between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Gatun. 
February 1, 1914. Men watch a dredger work to clean up the aftermath of a landslide in Cucarache. 
1913 The spillway of the Gatun Dam, which separates the artificial Gatun Lake, the main part of the canal.
On December 10, 1913, a passable water route between the two oceans was finally created. On January 7, 1914, the French floating crane Alexandre La Valley made its first passage through the canal.
October 9, 1913. An explosion near the city of Gamboa opens the way for the canal to the Pacific Ocean. 
1913 The explosion of the dam that separated the canal from the Atlantic Ocean.
Today, 4% of all world trade passes through the Panama Canal, about 15 thousand ships a year. Plans are underway to build an additional set of wide locks, as well as a competing channel through Nicaragua.
The largest fee for passage through the canal is 142 thousand for a cruise ship. The smallest fee was $0.36 for adventurer Richard Halliburton, who swam across the canal through the locks in 1928.
1913 
1914 
October 1913. The Miraflores Lock gate opens for inspection. 
September 26, 1913. Tug U.S. Gaton is the first to pass through the Gatun lock. 
April 29, 1915. S.S. Kronland passes through the Panama Canal.
The construction of the Panama Canal was one of the most important milestones in navigation. Commissioned in 1920 (the first ship passed through it in 1914, but due to a landslide in the fall of that year, official traffic was opened only six years later), the canal shortened the distance between the ports of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans by several times - previously, To get from one ocean to another, ships had to go around South America all the way around Cape Horn. Today, the Panama Canal is one of the world's main shipping routes, through which about 18 thousand ships pass annually (the current canal capacity is 48 ships per day), which constitutes a significant part of the world's cargo turnover.
The history of the Panama Canal dates back to the 16th century, when the Spaniard Vasco Nunez de Balboa was the first to cross the Isthmus of Panama and reach the Pacific coast - so it was discovered that the territory of modern Panama is only a narrow strip of land between the oceans. In 1539, the Spanish king sent an exploration expedition to study the possibility of building a waterway across the Isthmus of Panama, but the expedition reported to the king that this idea was not feasible.
The first real attempt to build the Panama Canal was made by the French in 1879 under the leadership of Ferdinand de Lesseps, a diplomat and director of the Suez Canal project, which had opened shortly before, in 1869. But building the Panama Canal was a much more difficult task. In 1889, the French project went bankrupt - the challenge posed by the Panamanian jungle with its tropical rains, impenetrable swamps and at the same time rocky soils, floods and, worst of all, deadly epidemics of malaria, yellow fever, plague, typhus and other diseases was too difficult , which claimed the lives of about 20 thousand people in the first campaign.
Then the States took up the construction of the Panama Canal. The United States was interested in shortening the waterway from the ports of California to its Atlantic coast, and most importantly, the Panama Canal had enormous military significance - it made it possible to almost instantly transfer a fleet from one ocean basin to another, which significantly increased the power and global influence of the United States. In 1903, the United States bought the Panama project from the French, ensured Panama's independence from Colombia, which did not want to provide the Americans with the canal zone for essentially indefinite use, and then signed a formal agreement with the new Panamanian government (which was again represented by the Frenchman Philippe-Jean Bunod -Varilla, who was one of the main participants in the bankrupt first project). The treaty gave the United States a 5-kilometer zone on each side of the canal for indefinite use (that is, essentially forever) and the exclusive right to occupy territories outside this zone as part of any measures to protect the waterway. Thus, the declaration of the canal as neutral and the guarantee of free passage through the canal for military and merchant vessels of all nations, both in time of peace and in war, was destroyed by the American stipulation that these regulations would not apply to such measures as the United States deemed necessary to take for the defense of Panama and maintaining order in the channel. In fact, in a war in which the United States participated, its military fortifications would inevitably deprive the other belligerent of the opportunity to use the canal on an equal footing.
John Frank Stevens became the chief engineer of the Panama Canal. Taking into account the mistakes of the French, the Americans first of all took enormous measures to disinfect the construction area and prevent tropical diseases. The project was also changed - according to the French project, the Panama Canal, like the Suez Canal, was supposed to be built at the same level as the oceans, without locks. This required a colossal amount of excavation work on the watershed section of the route. American engineers changed the project and proposed a lock canal with three stages of locks on each side and a watershed section at an altitude of 26 meters above ocean level. The Gatun Reservoir was created on the watershed, into which ships from the Atlantic side were raised in the Gatun locks, and from the Pacific side - in the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks.
The Panama Canal opened in 1920 and remained under US control for many years. There were dozens of American military bases in the canal zone, and about 50 thousand military and civilian specialists worked. Over time, dissatisfaction regarding this began to grow more and more in Panama, and in 1977 an agreement was signed on the gradual transfer of the Panama Canal from the United States to Panama. In reality, this process took more than two decades, and the canal zone finally came into the possession of Panama on December 31, 1999.
The length of the canal is 81.6 kilometers, of which 65.2 kilometers are actually on land and another 16.4 approach kilometers along the bottom of the Panama and Limon bays to deep water. Vessels large enough to pass through the Panama Canal are called Panamax vessels. This standard was the main one for sea vessels until the early 1990s, when active construction of Post-Panamax class vessels (mainly tankers) began, the dimensions of which are larger than the dimensions of the Panama Canal locks. Today, the cost of one trip through the Panama Canal depends on the type and size of the vessel and ranges from $800 for a small yacht to $500,000 for the largest vessels. There were also funny cases - for example, in 1928, the famous American traveler Richard Halliburton, who sailed through the canal from one ocean to another, was charged 36 cents. 🙂
The Panama Canal today is not only one of the world's most important transport connections, but also the main tourist attraction of Panama. The Panama Canal now operates a large tourist center at the Miraflores locks, where from several special observation platforms you can see the locks and the ships passing through them, while the loudspeaker tells about each ship, its route and what it is carrying. There are other tours - by bus along the canal, by rail, walks on small boats; Some standard Caribbean cruises take cruise ships through the Gatun Locks up the Atlantic side of the canal to the watershed and then back out into the Caribbean Sea (and tourists can sail the rest of the Panama Canal on excursions). But by far the best, most unique and enthusiastic way to see the Panama Canal is to transit it entirely on a cruise ship, cross it from the Atlantic to the Pacific (or vice versa) and continue the cruise further in a completely different ocean basin. Absolutely everyone, even the most experienced travelers, prepare for the passage of the Panama Canal in a completely special way.
The actual passage of the Panama Canal takes on average about 9 hours, not counting the waiting time for ships at huge sea roads on each side. The cruise ship, of course, goes exactly on schedule and heads into the canal immediately, out of turn. The Zaandam approaches the Panama Canal Zone at approximately 5 am. The entrance to the spacious approach area of the Panama Canal from the Caribbean Sea is marked by powerful lighthouses and protected by many kilometers of dams. At the entrance to the canal in the roadstead, dozens of ships of all sizes and colors stand waiting for their turn, brightly lit in the night. And on the shore of the bay there is the city and port of Colon, with a huge container terminal. The same container terminal is located at the other entrance to the canal - thus, container ships of the “Post-Panamax” class (that is, larger than the locks of the Panama Canal) are unloaded at these entrance ports, containers with cargo are transported along the railway running along the canal, and then on the other side they board new ships and continue the route. The railway between ports is also used to partially unload large container ships passing through the canal to reduce their draft.
1. It’s five in the morning, it’s just starting to get light, but most tourists are already on their feet: entering the Panama Canal is one of the central events of the cruise! We enter the approaching water area, from the board in the pre-dawn twilight the lights of the Colon port are visible.
4. Having taken on board a group of pilots, we head to the entrance - from the Caribbean Sea, the Panama Canal begins with a three-stage staircase of Gatun locks, in which ships rise from the level of the Atlantic Ocean to the watershed section of the canal.
5. To the left of the existing two-line locks, starting in 2007, an additional third line of Panama Canal locks has been built.
They will be significantly larger than existing ones and will allow increasing maximum dimensions and the draft of ships that may navigate through the canal. If the current locks have dimensions of 304.8 x 33.5 and a depth of 12.8 meters, then the new ones are respectively 427 x 55 x 18.3. In addition to the construction of the second stage of locks, the fairway at the Culebra watershed is currently being expanded and deepened, so that two-way traffic of vessels along the entire length of the canal becomes possible (currently, traffic and locking on the Panama Canal is essentially one-way - first a group of ships goes in one direction, then in the opposite direction, and the ships diverge on wider lake sections of the route). After the completion of this large-scale reconstruction, the capacity of the Panama Canal will double.
6. Old and new locks of the Panama Canal
9. Longitudinal profile of the Panama Canal
10. Route plan
11. At 6-30 am we approach the Gatun locks. The movement of ships along one of the most important transport connections in the world goes on continuously, from the bow of the Zaandam we can clearly see four ships rising up the lock stairs in front of us, two in each line.
12. On the bank of the canal there are huge gates for the second stage of locks under construction - they were made in Italy and were delivered to the canal recently, at the end of August 2013.
13. We approach the first gateway. Clumsy sea vessels are moved from chamber to chamber with the help of special locomotives, to which mooring lines are attached and tensioned. Locomotives with stretched moorings attached to them accompany the ship on four sides (at the bow and stern on each side) - thus, a perfectly clear entry of huge sea vessels into a very small chamber compared to their size is carried out. Mooring lines from the locomotives are supplied to the ship using a boat.
14. The mooring lines are secured - let's go! 🙂
15. We enter the first lock chamber - ships rise from the Caribbean Sea to the watershed area in the three-stage Gatun locks. The total lifting height is 26 meters. Accordingly, just under nine meters per step. But from aboard a huge sea liner, this nine-meter drop is not perceived as significant.
16. There is incredible excitement on the decks!
17. Since the United States finally withdrew from the Panama Canal in 1999, the unique structure has been maintained and maintained entirely by Panama. The channel is in good hands! 🙂
18. The locomotive, starting the ship from the stern on the starboard side, deftly climbs up. Now the gates will close and the locking will begin.
19. Having risen in the first, we move to the second chamber.
20. One of the Panama Canal webcams is installed in the Gatun locks, which broadcast images on the Internet in real time. At this moment, many of my friends and colleagues are watching us walk through the locks. This is what the Zaandam slowly rising along the Atlantic slope of the Panama Canal looks like from the side. 🙂
21. Having completed the locking in the third chamber, “Zaandam” rises to the level of the watershed section of the canal. From the stern there is a stunning view of the lock staircase going down and the ships ascending it behind us. Breathtaking! Far below lies the expanse of the Caribbean Sea. And for us - to the Pacific Ocean. Goodbye Atlantic! 🙂
24. Having risen through the Gatun locks, the ship enters the lake of the same name. Lake Gatun is actually a large reservoir formed on the watershed by a large dam on the Chagres River, which is clearly visible on the right side.
The canal is fed with water from Lake Gatun. Such canals, in which the reservoir feeding them with water is located in a watershed area, from which water is distributed by gravity to both slopes, are called canals with natural feeding (gravity). In our country these are the Volga-Baltic and White Sea-Baltic canals.
25. On Lake Gatun there is another raid of ships waiting their turn at the locks and waiting for the end of locking of those who are coming towards them. When the second stage of the Panama Canal is put into operation, traffic along the entire length of the route will become completely two-way.
26. The route along the Gatun Reservoir is approximately half the entire length of the Panama Canal. We admire the surrounding landscapes of the equatorial belt from the deck.
29. The fairway is not wide and quite winding. The waterway is marked with special buoys.
30. At the Gatun Reservoir, ships going in opposite directions diverge. A caravan of ships is coming towards us, having passed through the locks of the Pacific slope in the morning and now heading towards the Atlantic slope of the canal. Large tankers, bulk carriers, container ships pass very close by...
35. The Zaandam is also viewed with interest from the bridges of oncoming cargo ships. The passage of cruise ships through the Panama Canal is a fairly rare event.
36. On the left side you can see the confluence of the Chagres River, which is crossed by a bridge. Gatun Reservoir ends here. Next, the canal route passes through the artificially dug Culebra cut.
37. A railway runs along the Panama Canal route, along which containers are transported from the Atlantic port to the Pacific port and vice versa. Sometimes tourist trains also run along it.
38. We go through the Culebra notch - the narrowest part of the Panama Canal.
39. In some areas, ships move along the canal accompanied by tugs. There is a whole special flotilla of them working on the Panama Canal.
40. In the place where the Culebra notch crosses a high mountain range, the banks rise steeply in steps, and the cable-stayed Centennial Bridge is already visible in the distance. It was built in 2004 and became the second permanent bridge over the canal. By the way, bridges over the Panama Canal connect two continents - let's not forget that the Panama Canal not only connects two oceans, but also separates the two Americas. The motto of Panama and the Panama Canal, “A Land Divided - A World United”, I think, is clear without additional translation. Now we have North America on the starboard side, and South America on the left side. 🙂
41. Rising with stone ledges and reinforced with powerful anchors, the slopes of the excavation in this place are reminiscent of some fantastic Mayan pyramids. In principle, in terms of its grandeur, the Panama Canal is a structure quite comparable to them. The volume of rock excavated during the creation of the Culebra excavation is equal in volume to 63 Cheops pyramids in Egypt.
42. The bridge is left behind.
43. Soon after the bridge, the watershed section of the canal ends and the descent to the Pacific Ocean begins, which ships also overcome in three 9-meter steps. But the Pacific slope is a little flatter - if on the Atlantic slope all three steps are located in a row in the Gatun locks, then here there are two groups of locks - Pedro Miguel (1 step) and Miraflores (2 steps), separated by a small intermediate pool. So, we go into the Pedro Miguel locks.
44. Approximately the same view opens from the captain's bridge. From this angle you can clearly see how narrow airlock chamber compared to the colossal dimensions of ocean-going ships. Even with locomotives guiding the vessel, the navigators here require pinpoint precision. All ships navigate the canal with a group of local pilots.
46. Locomotives bring the Emerald Express tanker into the parallel chamber.
47. At this time on its decks.
48. Having finished sluicing in the Pedro Miguel locks, the Zaandam enters the small Lake Miraflores, like Lake Gatun, formed by the dam. Here we will have to wait a little - along a parallel thread of locks a huge floating crane is being pulled towards us, and for some time the ships go only along one thread.
49. We go out into the water area and stop. We'll have to wait half an hour until the ship in front of us locks into two chambers, and it's our turn.
50. The ships following us are also waiting - a small traffic jam! 🙂
51. On the left you can see the dam on the river that formed the Miraflores reservoir.
52. Finally, the lock chambers are cleared and are ready to receive our ship. This arrow shows the skippers which of the two lines they need to go to.
53. We go into the left chamber, and towards us from the right chamber the tugboat finally slowly brings out a huge floating crane, the “culprit” of the traffic jam. Now the locking process will go much faster again.
54. Near the upper left chamber is the Panama Canal Visitor Center. There are several large open areas, from where anyone can look at the ships passing through the locks.
55. There is also a webcam from which our ship can be seen as the largest one on the canal. Separating yourself from the crowd, here you can pose gorgeously for your friends and say hello to the Motherland that doesn’t sleep at midnight! At this moment, from the outside we look like this. 🙂
Having said goodbye to our friends, we disappear from the field of view of the video cameras. Now see you in two weeks at home, but for now the Zaandam is heading to the last chamber of the Miraflores lock, after which it will leave the Panama Canal, enter the Pacific Ocean and continue its cruise along the coast of South America.
56. On observation platforms The Miraflores tourist center is crowded. The passage of a cruise ship through the canal is a significant event and a unique opportunity for many land tourists to capture rare footage.
57. Excitement!!!
58. The gate closes last camera Miraflores locks - the final lock, and we will again find ourselves at ocean level.
59. Before the construction of two permanent bridges on the Panama Canal, this drawbridge operated, through which communication between the two Americas was carried out for 50 years. 🙂
60. Locomotive driver at work.
61. Locking is finished - let's go out! 🙂
62. The Pacific Slope locks of the Panama Canal remain behind.
63. On the Pacific slope, the construction of the second stage of locks is also actively underway - the outline of the future new water staircase is already visible here.
65. We leave the Pacific container port on the left.
66. The exit to the Pacific Ocean is unusually beautiful - we pass under the openwork arch of the Bridge of Americas, opened in 1962.
67. On the left is a magnificent panorama of the city of Panama, the capital of the state of the same name, surrounded by green hills.
69. The pilot boat picks up the pilots accompanying the ship on the Panama Canal, and, giving a good-natured siren as a farewell, returns back.
70. There are also many ships at the entrance to the Panama Canal on the Pacific side.
72. A fresh wind blows in the face, emerging into the open space “Zaandam” is accompanied by a flock of birds...
73. We are in the Pacific Ocean!