The first attempt to build a
sea-level canal in Panama was by the French (1881-1889) but it was the United
States that successfully completed the task (1903-1914) by using a lock and dam
concept and irradiating mosquito borne diseases in the area. The cost of $639 million was overshadowed however,
by the loss of 25,000 human lives among the 80,000 workers, mostly due to
yellow fever and malaria.
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| Panama Canal |
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| Panama Canal |
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| Panama Canal |
A full transit of the Panama Canal
will be an all day event. My latest
transit was aboard the Norwegian Pearl on a southbound route passing from the
Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean through three series of locks, the Gatun Locks, the Pedro Miguel Locks and the Miraflores Locks.
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| Panama Canal Route |
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| Transit Map |
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| Transit Map |
The
day of our scheduled transit I found myself awake at 3:30am. Sunrise was scheduled for 6:09am. Wanting to claim a good viewing spot before
we entered Gatun Locks, the first set of locks, I was out of the cabin by 4:30am.
Before entering Gatun Locks we were met by
several small launches. The first launch
was the canal pilots. It would take 3 pilots
for our ship. After that the inspectors boarded
and verified that all navigation was working properly.
A ruling in 2017 requires vessels to switch from heavy fuel to light (distillate) fuel in an effort to protect the canal waters.
The
light fuel must have a minimum flash point of 140 degrees Fahrenheit regardless of classification
and must follow the sulphur content cap.
Next to board was an agent bringing on
handmade items to sell. The items were
all made by three indigenous groups selling under the brand name of “My Name is Panama”.
An important safety feature of
the canal is that ships be guided through the lock chambers by electric
locomotives, known as “mules” and named after the animals traditionally used to
cross the Isthmus of Panama. These mules are used for side-to-side and braking
control in the locks.
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| Third generation Mitsubishi Mule |
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| Mules at work |
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| Mules on the dock |
Forward motion into and
through the locks is provided by the ship's engines and not the mules. A ship
approaching the locks first pulls up to the guide wall, where it is taken under
control by the mules before proceeding into the lock chamber. As it moves forward,
additional lines are taken to mules on the other wall. With large ships there
are normally two mules on each side at the bow, and two each side at the
stern—eight in total, allowing for precise control of the ship. As a general
rule of thumb, larger ships transit during daylight hours and smaller ones
transit at night.
The mules run on rack tracks, train tracks with a toothed rail down the middle to help the train climb steep inclines.
Traction
is by electric power, 440 volt line, supplied through a third rail laid below
surface level on the land side. Each mule has a winch operated by the driver. This is used to take two cables in or let them
out in order to keep the ship centered in the lock while moving it from chamber
to chamber. With as little as 2 feet of clearance on each side of a ship,
considerable skill is required on the part of the operators.  |
| Mules at work |
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| Mules ready to go |
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| Mule and Tug at work |
Here’s a short video of an accident in 2014 where a large tanker crushed one of the mules.
Smaller vessels, such as
small tour boats and private yachts, proceed through as hand line transits,
where the mooring lines are handled manually by line handlers.
The Norwegian Pearl required
the maximum number of “mules” at eight.
Four in the front and four in the back.
Each one extended two one-inch steel cables and two winches, each working
independently. Each has two 300 horse
power electric motors. The cables are not your standard one inch
steel cables. Their core
contains special material and each cable costs $40,000USD. The canal has100
of these locomotives at their disposal.
The canal has evolved
through three versions or generations of ‘mules’. The first 50 years that the canal was
operating, the mules were built by the GE Company.
As time and ships have
evolved, the canal has continued to transition to a more powerful and faster
mule. The third and current generation
is a joint effort of Mitsubishi and Kawasaki Heavy Industries. A first generation mule cost $13,000. In 1964 a second generation cost $15,000
each. The current third generation is now
commanding $2 million each.
The Panama Canal currently maintains
a fleet of 50 tugs. This is because the new
locks now require 4 tugs per ship.
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| Tug at work |
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| Canal Tug |
The Norwegian Pearl is classified
as a “Panamax Ship”,
one specifically designed
and built for transiting the Panama Canal with a clearance of only two feet on
each side.
The average canal transit requires ten hours. The alternative is to sail
around South America but this would take 21 extra days and add an additional 8,000 miles
to your trip.
Each
lock is 984.25 feet long with the walls ranging in thickness from 49.2 feet at
the base to 9.8 feet at the top. The central wall between the parallel locks at
Gatun has a thickness of 59.05 feet and stands in excess of 78.74 feet in
height. The lock gates are made from steel and measures an average of 6.56 feet
thick, 63.97 feet in length and stand 65.16 feet in height.
The
locks are constructed from concrete mixed by using the rock excavated
from Culebra Cut. The excavated rock was crushed and then used as
aggregate, with an excess of 1.53 million m3 (cubic meters) of concrete used in the
construction of the Gatun Locks.
Gatun’s first chamber lifted
the Pearl 27 feet. The second chamber
raised us another 27 feet and the third and final chamber raised us 33 feet,
making our total rise 87 feet.
One of the more unique
sights along the canal was the jungle-surrounded Canal Zone Penitentiary
located right on the banks of the canal.
Prisoners sentenced to time in the penitentiary were required to work at hard labor, mainly building roads. Chained to a ball weighing 16 to 18 pounds, they were marched to the job site where they were required to work for ten hours a day.
Perhaps the most famous
inmate at the penitentiary is Manuel Noriega, Panama's drug-running military dictator of the 1980's. A we cruised by I noticed deveral of the inmates standing in the yard. As we got closer they all began waving and whistling, prompting several waves back from some of my fellow passengers.
The month prior to my leaving on the cruise
I read an excellent book by David McCulloch titled “Path Between The Seas”, the
creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914. Over 600 pages in length,
this book thoroughly documents every detail of the political, economical and
social battle involved in the building of the Panama Canal.
Without a doubt the most frustrating and dangerous area to work was at the Culebra Cut. This area has experienced over two dozen major slides, killing hundreds of workers and burying numerous pieces of equipment. Even this did not deter the thousands of workers that came from many countries, mostly Barbados, to work on the canal, attracted by a good salary of ten cents per hour. During construction there were times when more than 43,000 people were working on the canal. We arrived at "The Culebra Cut" at 1pm, six hours after entering the first chamber at Gatun.
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| Construction on Culebra Cut in 1913 |
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| Culebra Cut today |
Gold Hill was another
interesting sight, aptly named by the French
in an attempt to raise capital to fund the construction of the canal. The
French sold stocks claiming big returns because of all the gold in the
hill. Unfortunately, it was all a
lie. No gold was ever found and
ultimately bankruptcy followed.
The second lock we entered
was the Pedro Miguel Lock. A single
chamber with a lifting capacity of 31 feet.
One of the major concerns
with the building of the canal was the relocation of displaced animals. An original initiative, instigated by the
Smithsonian Institute, successfully relocated 1,786
mammals, 2,187 reptiles, 261 amphibians, 381 crocodiles and 402 snakes. Records show that as of June 2014 more than 5,800 creatures have been rescued.
Cruise ships pay a toll to transit the canal based on net tonnage or on a per berth basis. The highest toll payer is the Norwegian Pearl at $490,000. The Norwegian Star, the Pearl sister ship, has the same hull and size except it is one deck shorter. They pay $464,668. In addition to the per berth charge, Norwegian also paid an additional 21% surcharge for a day transit. This made the total transit fee of the Norwegian Pearl $592,900.
In 2006, Panamanians voted to give
their canal a $6 billion makeover by dredging its channels, widening the famous
Culebra Cut across the Continental Divide, and constructing a gigantic new set
of state-of-the-art locks 1,400 feet long and 180 feet wide. The new locks
can accommodate a ship 1,200 feet long and 160 feet wide.
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| Arial view of Agua Clara Locks on the Atlantic Side |
Interesting
Facts:
The
fastest trip through the canal was by a Naval Hydrafoil named “The Pegasus”,
transiting in 2 hours and 41 minutes.
The
smallest toll ever paid was from Richard Halliburton in 1928. He paid $0.36 to
swim the canal.
The largest toll collected to
date has been $1,083,000 for a transit through the new locks. The size of the vessel was 1,200 feet long
and 158 feet wide and carried 13,208 containers.
America originally wanted to build a canal in Nicaragua, not
Panama.
The United States transferred control of the canal to Panama
in 1999.
The Panama Canal is open to
all countries in the world.
The French first attempted to build a canal through Panama in
1881. However, due to a high number of deaths and other issues, they abandoned
the project in 1889. The United States started construction on the Panama Canal
in 1904 and completed it in 1914.
After declaring independence, Panama granted the United States control of the
Panama Canal Zone through the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty. The U.S. paid Panama a one
time sum of $10 million for the rights, as well as a yearly lease.
Over 25,000 people died building the Panama Canal, mostly from
disease. Approximately 20,000 died when the French attempted to build the
canal, and over 5,000 died when the Americans successfully built the canal.
Ships pass through chambers in the locks that raise or lower the
ship approximately 28 feet. The Miraflores Locks have two chambers, the Pedro
Miguel Locks have one, and the Gatun Locks have three chambers.
It takes ships on average 8-10 hours to travel the Panama Canal.
This compares to 2 weeks if a ship tried to bypass the canal and travel around
South America.
Only Panama Canal Pilots working with the Panama Canal
Authority are able to captain a boat through the Panama Canal.
The locks each have two lanes that allow multiple ships to pass
through at a time, but they cannot handle large vessels going opposite
directions. In the day time, the direction of the locks are switched every 6
hours and priority is given to larger ships. This way large ships can complete
their journey in the 8-10 hour time frame. At night, two way traffic
accommodates smaller ships.
You can take your own private boat through the canal for a fee
ranging from $800-3,200. You will share locks transit with a larger ship, since
it is not affordable for the locks to be operated for this cost.
13,000-14,000 vessels pass through the Panama Canal each year, at
a rate of about 35-40 per day.
The Panama Canal takes in about $2 billion a year in revenue and
approximately $800 million goes into Panama’s General Treasury each year.
The Miraflores Visitors Center at the Miraflores Locks is open
from 9am-5pm each day. Access to the visitors center costs $15 for visitors and
$3 for Panamanians and Permanent Residents.
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| Miraflores Visitor Center |
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