Panama Canal II

Today I headed out again to that engineering marvel, the Panama Canal. The Miraflores Locks to be precise - an obligatory stop for any tourist in Panama City. It is pretty cool to see the boats being raised up through the locks and passing through. No much else to say so I'll give you some statistics on the canal.

The Panama Canal is 77 kilometres long between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This waterway was cut through one of the narrowest saddles of the isthmus that joins North and South America.

The Canal uses a system of locks -compartments with entrance and exit gates. The locks function as water lifts: they raise ships from sea level (the Pacific or the Atlantic) to the level of Gatun Lake (26 meters above sea level); ships then sail the channel through the Continental Divide.The water used to raise and lower vessels in each set of locks comes from Gatun Lake by gravity; it comes into the locks through a system of main culverts that extend under the lock chambers from the sidewalls and the center wall.

The narrowest portion of the Canal is Culebra Cut, which extends from the north end of Pedro Miguel Locks to the south edge of Gatun Lake at Gamboa. This segment, approximately 13.7 kilometers long, is carved through the rock and shale of the Continental Divide.

Ships from all parts of the world transit daily through the Panama Canal. Over 14,000 vessels use the Canal every year - commercial transportation activities through the Canal represent approximately 5% of the world trade.

The Canal was built by Americans (after a failed attempt by the French) and was opened in 1914. The Americans controlled and operated the Canal until it was handed back to Panama on December 31, 1999.

The project to widen the Canal and build two new sets of locks has been underway since 2007 and they hope to complete it in 2014.

The reason the French pulled out of the project was the deaths of over 21,000 workers from yellow-fever, malaria and landslides. A further 5,600 workers died during the American construction phase.

Most of the workers came from Jamaica, Barbados and other neighbouring countries and islands. Many settled in Panama once the Canal was completed.