the canal

Whoever chose panama chose well. Whether by choice or accident, panama has several natural characteristics which suit it to having a canal thru it. I had always been told they chose panama because it is narrow. That is true, but a rather limited explanation. The canal is a series of locks on both sides with the middle section being a large lake expanded by a dam. The locks bring ships up to the level of the lake, then back down to sea level. The locks expel 52 million tons of water per ship; 26 million on each side. To constantly replace the water loss, panama has designated large tracts of land to remain rainforest to attract the rain. This plan seems to succeed since the average rainfall around here is 200” a year. The Changres river feeds the lake and supplies most of the water. Dredgers run constantly to keep the canal lanes deep enough for the ships.

Even with the locks, many large ships cannot fit and must still make the treacherous journey around South America. Panama has started building bigger locks so that one day it can transport massive ships. And this time they are using construction equipment. A small ship can carry 4,500 containers. The ships that cannot pass thru these locks are 5 times that size. I can’t even fathom the sheer size. Even with a high passage fee ($150,000 – $400,000), ships still save 10 times that by not traveling around South America.