Panama Canal

Early proposals in Panama The idea of the Panama Canal dates back to 1513, when the Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa (c.1475–1519) first crossed the Isthmus of Panama. He wrote in his journal the possibility of a canal but did not take action. European powers soon noticed the possibility of digging a water passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans across this narrow land bridge between North and South America. The earliest proposal dates to 1534, when the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V ordered a survey for a route through the Americas in order to ease the voyage for ships traveling between Spain and Peru. In 1668, the English physician and philosopher Sir Thomas Browne specifically proposed the Isthmus of Panama as the most convenient place for such a canal. The first attempt to make the isthmus part of a trade route was the ill-fated Darien scheme, launched by the Kingdom of Scotland (1698–1700), which was abandoned because of the inhospitable conditions. In 1811, the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt published an essay on the geography of the Spanish colonies in Central America (Essai politique sur le royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne; translated into English as: Political essay on the kingdom of New Spain containing researches relative to the geography of Mexico). In the essay, he considered five possible routes for a canal across Central America, including Panama, but concluded that the most promising location was across Nicaragua, traversing Lake Nicaragua. His recommendations influenced the British to attempt a canal across Nicaragua in 1843. Although this attempt in the end came to nothing, it resulted in the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty (1850) between the United Kingdom and the United States, in which the two nations bound each other to joint control of any canal built in Nicaragua or (by implication) anywhere in Central America. In 1846, the Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty, negotiated between the US and New Granada (the predecessor of Colombia), granted the United States transit rights and the right to intervene militarily in the isthmus. In 1848, the discovery of gold in California created a demand for a crossing of Panama as a practical route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Between 1850 and 1855, a syndicate founded by Aspinwall built a railroad (now the Panama Canal Railway) from Colón on the Caribbean Sea to Panama City. The project cost US$8,000,000 (six times the estimated cost) and the lives of between 6,000 and 12,000 construction workers who succumbed to tropical diseases. The railroad soon became immensely profitable for its owners. In 1870, US President Grant established an Interoceanic Canal Commission, which included Chief of Engineers Brigadier General Andrew A Humphreys as its members. It commissioned several naval officers, including Commander Thomas Oliver Selfridge Jr., to investigate the possible routes suggested by Humboldt for a canal across Central America. The commission decided in favour of Nicaragua, establishing this as the preferred route amongst American policy-makers. French construction attempts, 1881–1899 , the French originator of the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal The French diplomat and entrepreneur Ferdinand de Lesseps and engineer Philippe Bunau-Varilla were the driving forces behind French attempts to construct the Panama Canal (1881–1889). De Lesseps had made his reputation by successfully constructing the Suez Canal (1859–1869), a route that had soon proved its value in international commerce. After this success, he actively sought new projects. In 1875, de Lesseps was approached by the Société Civile Internationale du Canal Interocéanique par l'isthme du Darien (also known as the "Türr Syndicate"), a syndicate formed to promote the building of an interoceanic canal across Panama. Its directors were Hungarian freedom fighter István Türr, financier Jacques de Reinach and Türr's brother-in-law Lt. Lucien Bonaparte-Wyse. Between 1876 and 1878, Bonaparte-Wyse and Armand Reclus investigated several potential routes across the isthmus of Panama. Bonaparte-Wyse rode by horseback to Bogotá, where he obtained a concession from the Colombian government to build a canal across Panama (20 March 1878). The agreement, known as the Wyse Concession, was valid for 99 years and allowed the company to dig a canal and exploit it. In May 1879, de Lesseps convened an international congress in Paris at the Société de Géographie to examine the possibilities of a ship canal across Central America. Among the 136 delegates of 26 countries, only 42 were engineers, with the remainder being speculators, politicians, and friends of de Lesseps, who used the congress to promote fundraising for his preferred scheme, which was to build a sea-level canal across Panama, similar in manner to the Suez Canal. At the conference, the chief engineer of the French Department of Bridges and Highways, Baron Godin de Lépinay proposed a canal plan consisting of locks, the flooding and use of lakes (at Gatun) and a cut through the hilly terriain at Culebra. However, Lépinay's plan was dismissed in favour of Lessep's proposal for a sea level canal, although the locks plan would later be implemented under US control. Lesseps won the approval of a majority of the delegates for his plan despite reservations expressed by some who preferred a canal in Nicaragua or who emphasized the likely engineering difficulties and health risks. Following the congress, de Lesseps organized a company to construct the canal (the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique de Panama). The company bought the Wyse Concession from the Türr Syndicate and raised considerable funds from small French investors on the basis of the huge profits generated by the Suez Canal. Construction of the canal began on 1 January 1881, with digging at Culebra beginning on 22 January. A large labor force was assembled, numbering about 40,000 in 1888 (nine-tenths of whom were afro-Caribbean workers from the West Indies). Although the project attracted good, well-paid French engineers, retaining them was difficult due to disease. The death toll from 1881 to 1889 was estimated at over 22,000, of whom as many as 5,000 were French citizens. From the beginning, the French canal project faced difficulties. Although the Panama Canal needed to be only 40 percent as long as the Suez Canal, it was much more of an engineering challenge because of the combination of tropical rain forests, debilitating climate, the need for canal locks, and the lack of any ancient route to follow. Beginning with Armand Reclus in 1882, a series of principal engineers resigned in discouragement. The workers were unprepared for the conditions of the rainy season, during which the Chagres River, where the canal started, became a raging torrent, rising up to . Workers had to continually widen the main cut through the mountain at Culebra and reduce the angles of the slopes to minimize landslides into the canal. The dense jungle was alive with venomous snakes, insects, and spiders, but the worst challenges were yellow fever, malaria, and other tropical diseases, which killed thousands of workers; by 1884, the death rate was over 200 per month. Public health measures were ineffective because the role of the mosquito as a disease vector was then unknown. Conditions were downplayed in France to avoid recruitment problems, but the high mortality rate made it difficult to maintain an experienced workforce. In France, de Lesseps kept the investment and supply of workers flowing long after it was obvious that the targets were not being met, but eventually, the money ran out. The French effort went bankrupt in 1889 after reportedly spending US$287,000,000 ; an estimated 22,000 men died from disease and accidents, and the savings of 800,000 investors were lost. Work was suspended on 15 May, and in the ensuing scandal, known as the Panama affair, some of those deemed responsible were prosecuted, including Gustave Eiffel. De Lesseps and his son Charles were found guilty of misappropriation of funds and sentenced to five years' imprisonment. This sentence was later overturned, and the father, at age 88, was never imprisoned. The treaty was ratified by the US Senate on 14 March 1903, but the Senate of Colombia unanimously rejected the treaty since it had become significantly unpopular in Bogotá due to concerns over insufficient compensation, threat to sovereignty, and perpetuity. in 1903. Roosevelt changed tactics, based in part on the Mallarino–Bidlack Treaty of 1846, and actively supported the separation of Panama from Colombia. Shortly after recognizing Panama, he signed a treaty with the new Panamanian government under terms similar to the Hay–Herrán Treaty. On 2 November 1903, US warships blocked sea lanes against possible Colombian troop movements en route to put down the Panama rebellion. Panama declared independence on 3 November 1903. The United States quickly recognized the new nation. This happened so quickly that by the time the Colombian government in Bogotá launched a response to the Panamanian uprising US troops had already entered the rebelling province. The Colombian troops dispatched to Panama were hastily assembled conscripts with little training. While these conscripts may have been able to defeat the Panamanian rebels, they would not have been able to defeat the US army troops that were supporting the Panamanian rebels. An army of conscripts was the best response the Colombians could muster, as Colombia was recovering from a civil war between Liberals and Conservatives from October 1899, to November 1902, known as the "Thousand Days War". The US was fully aware of these conditions and even incorporated them into the planning of the Panama intervention as the US acted as an arbitrator between the two sides. The peace treaty that ended the "Thousand Days War" was signed on the USS Wisconsin on 21 November 1902. While in port, the US also brought engineering teams to Panama with the peace delegation to begin planning the canal's construction before the US had even gained the rights to build the canal. All these factors would result in the Colombians being unable to put down the Panamanian rebellion and expel the United States troops occupying what today is the independent nation of Panama. On 6 November 1903, Philippe Bunau-Varilla, as Panama's ambassador to the United States, signed the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty, granting rights to the United States to build and administer the Panama Canal Zone and its defenses. This treaty gave the US some rights to the canal "in perpetuity", but in article 22 limited other rights to a lease period of 99 years. Almost immediately, the treaty was condemned by many Panamanians as an infringement on their country's new national sovereignty. This would later become a contentious diplomatic issue among Colombia, Panama, and the United States. intimidating Colombia to acquire the Panama Canal Zone. President Roosevelt famously stated, "I took the Isthmus, started the canal and then left Congress not to debate the canal, but to debate me." Several parties in the United States called this an act of war on Colombia: The New York Times described the support given by the United States to Bunau-Varilla as an "act of sordid conquest". The New York Evening Post called it a "vulgar and mercenary venture". The US maneuvers are often cited as the classic example of US gunboat diplomacy in Latin America, and the best illustration of what Roosevelt meant by the adage, "Speak softly and carry a big stick [and] you will go far." In 1904, the United States purchased the French equipment and excavations, including the Panama Railroad, for US$40 million, of which $30 million related to excavations completed, primarily in the Culebra Cut, valued at about . The United States also paid the new country of Panama $10 million and a $250,000 payment each following year. In 1921, Colombia and the United States entered into the Thomson–Urrutia Treaty, in which the United States agreed to pay Colombia $25 million: $5 million upon ratification, and four $5 million annual payments, and grant Colombia special privileges in the Canal Zone. In return, Colombia recognized Panama as an independent nation. United States construction of the Panama canal, 1904–1914 The US formally took control of the canal property on 4 May 1904, inheriting from the French a depleted workforce and a vast jumble of buildings, infrastructure, and equipment, much of it in poor condition. A US government commission, the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC), was established to oversee construction; it was given control of the Panama Canal Zone, over which the United States exercised sovereignty. The commission reported directly to Secretary of War William Howard Taft and was directed to avoid the inefficiency and corruption that had plagued the French 15 years earlier. On 6 May 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed John Findley Wallace, formerly chief engineer and finally general manager of the Illinois Central Railroad, as chief engineer of the Panama Canal Project. Overwhelmed by the disease-plagued country and forced to use often dilapidated French infrastructure and equipment, as well as being frustrated by the overly bureaucratic ICC, Wallace resigned abruptly in June 1905. The ICC brought on a new chairman, Theodore P. Shonts, and a new chief engineer was appointed, John Frank Stevens, a self-educated engineer who had built the Great Northern Railroad. Stevens was not a member of the ICC; he increasingly viewed its bureaucracy as a serious hindrance, bypassing the commission and sending requests and demands directly to the Roosevelt administration in Washington, DC. One of Stevens' first achievements in Panama was in building and rebuilding the housing, cafeterias, hotels, water systems, repair shops, warehouses, and other infrastructure needed by the thousands of incoming workers. Stevens began the recruitment effort to entice thousands of workers from the United States and other areas to come to the Canal Zone to work. Workers from the Caribbeancalled "Afro-Panamanians"came in large numbers and many settled permanently. Stevens tried to provide accommodation in which the workers could work and live in reasonable safety and comfort. He also re-established and enlarged the railway, which was to prove crucial in transporting millions of tons of soil from the cut through the mountains to the dam across the Chagres River. sitting on a Bucyrus steam shovel at Culebra Cut, 1906 , 1907 Colonel William C. Gorgas had been appointed chief sanitation officer of the canal construction project in 1904. Gorgas implemented a range of measures to minimize the spread of deadly diseases, particularly yellow fever and malaria, which had recently been shown to be mosquito-borne following the work of Cuban epidemiologist Carlos Finlay, American pathologist Walter Reed and Scottish physician Sir Ronald Ross. Investment was made in extensive sanitation projects, including city water systems, fumigation of buildings, spraying of insect-breeding areas with oil and larvicide, installation of mosquito netting and window screens, and elimination of stagnant water. Despite opposition from the commission (one member said his ideas were barmy), Gorgas persisted, and when Stevens arrived, he threw his weight behind the project. After two years of extensive work, the mosquito-spread diseases were nearly eliminated. Despite the monumental effort, about 5,600 workers died from disease and accidents during the US construction phase of the canal. Of these, the great majority were West Indian laborers, particularly those from Barbados. The number of Americans who died was about 350. Besides healthier and far better living conditions for the workers, another benefit given to American citizens working on the Canal was a medal for two years of service. Additional bars were added for each two-year period after that. Designed by Victor D. Brenner and featuring the then-current president they were popularly known as The Roosevelt Medal. A total of 7,189 were ultimately issued, with a few people receiving as many as four bars. In 1905, a US engineering panel was commissioned to review the canal design, which had not been finalized. In January 1906 the panel, in a majority of eight to five, recommended to President Roosevelt a sea-level canal, as had been attempted by the French and temporarily abandoned by them in 1887 for a ten locks system designed by Philippe Bunau-Varilla, and definitively in 1898 for a lock-and-lake canal designed by the Comité Technique of the Compagnie Nouvelle de Canal de Panama as conceptualized by Adolphe Godin de Lépinay in 1879. But in 1906 Stevens, who had seen the Chagres in full flood, was summoned to Washington; he declared a sea-level approach to be "an entirely untenable proposition". He argued in favor of a canal using a lock system to raise and lower ships from a large reservoir above sea level. This would create both the largest dam (Gatun Dam) and the largest human-made lake (Gatun Lake) in the world at that time. The water to refill the locks would be taken from Gatun Lake by opening and closing enormous gates and valves and letting gravity propel the water from the lake. Gatun Lake would connect to the Pacific through the mountains at the Gaillard (Culebra) Cut. Unlike Godin de Lépinay with the Congrès International d'Etudes du Canal Interocéanique, Stevens successfully convinced Roosevelt of the necessity and feasibility of this alternative scheme. The construction of a canal with locks required the excavation of more than of material over and above the excavated by the French. As quickly as possible, the Americans replaced or upgraded the old, unusable French equipment with new construction equipment that was designed for a much larger and faster scale of work. Over a hundred railroad-mounted steam shovels were purchased, 77 from Bucyrus-Erie and 25 from the Marion Power Shovel Company. These were joined by enormous steam-powered cranes, giant hydraulic rock crushers, concrete mixers, dredges, and pneumatic power drills, nearly all of which were manufactured by new, extensive machine-building technology developed and built in the United States. The railroad also had to be comprehensively upgraded with heavy-duty, double-tracked rails over most of the line to accommodate new rolling stock. In many places, the new Gatun Lake flooded over the original rail line, and a new line had to be constructed above Gatun Lake's waterline. Between 1912 and 1914 there was a controversy about the tolls for the canal. Goethals replaces Stevens as chief engineer, 1907–1914 In 1907, Stevens resigned as chief engineer. His replacement, appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt, was US Army Major George Washington Goethals of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Soon to be promoted to lieutenant colonel and later to general, he was a strong, West Point-trained leader and civil engineer with experience in canals (unlike Stevens). Goethals directed the work in Panama to a successful conclusion in 1914, two years ahead of the target date of 10 June 1916. Goethals divided the engineering and excavation work into three divisions: Atlantic, Central, and Pacific. The Atlantic Division, under Major William L. Sibert, was responsible for construction of the massive breakwater at the entrance to Bahía Limón, the Gatun locks, and their approach channel, and the immense Gatun Dam. The Pacific Division, under Sydney B. Williamson (the only civilian member of this high-level team), was similarly responsible for the Pacific breakwater in Panama Bay, the approach channel to the locks, and the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks and their associated dams and reservoirs. The Central Division, under Major David du Bose Gaillard of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, was assigned one of the most difficult parts: excavating the Culebra Cut through the continental divide to connect Gatun Lake to the Pacific Panama Canal locks. On 10 October 1913, President Woodrow Wilson sent a signal from the White House by telegraph which triggered the explosion that destroyed the Gamboa Dike. This flooded the Culebra Cut, thereby joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via the Panama Canal. Alexandre La Valley (a floating crane built by Lobnitz & Company and launched in 1887) was the first self-propelled vessel to transit the canal from ocean to ocean. This vessel crossed the canal from the Atlantic in stages during construction, finally reaching the Pacific on 7 January 1914. SS Cristobal (a cargo and passenger ship built by Maryland Steel, and launched in 1902 as SS Tremont) on 3 August 1914, was the first ship to transit the canal from ocean to ocean. The construction of the canal was completed in 1914, 401 years after Panama was first crossed overland by the Europeans in Vasco Núñez de Balboa's party of conquistadores. The United States spent almost $500 million (roughly equivalent to $ billion in ) to finish the project. This was by far the largest American engineering project to date. The canal was formally opened on 15 August 1914, with the passage of the cargo ship . The opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 caused a severe drop in traffic along Chilean ports due to shifts in maritime trade routes, despite the closure of the canal for nearly seven months after a landslide in the Culebra Cut on 18 September 1915. The burgeoning sheep farming business in southern Patagonia suffered a significant setback by the change in trade routes, as did the economy of the Falkland Islands. Throughout this time, Ernest "Red" Hallen was hired by the Isthmian Canal Commission to document the progress of the work. In 1914, steam shovels from the Panama Canal were purchased and put to use in Chuquicamata copper mine of northern Chile. MarioModel90 1908.jpg|A Marion steam shovel excavating the Panama Canal, 1908 Panama Canal Lock Forms.jpeg|The Panama Canal locks under construction, 1910 SS Ancon entering west chamber cph.3b17471u.jpg|The first ship to transit the canal at the formal opening, SS Ancon, passes through on 15 August 1914. Spanish laborers on Panama Canal in early 1900s.jpg|Spanish laborers working on the Panama Canal in the early 1900s File:George W. Goethals cph.3a02121.jpg|General George Washington Goethals, who completed the canal File:Admiralty Chart No 657 Panama Canal and Approaches, Published 1914, New Edition 1915.jpg|Nautical chart of 1915 showing the canal shortly after completion US control and handover to Panama, 1914–1999 By the 1930s, water supply became an issue for the canal, prompting construction of the Madden Dam across the Chagres River above Gatun Lake. Completed in 1935, the dam created Madden Lake (later Lake Alajuela), which provides additional water storage for the canal. In 1939, construction began on a further major improvement: a new set of locks large enough to carry the larger warships that the United States was building at the time and planned to continue building. The work proceeded for several years, and significant excavation was carried out on the new approach channels, but the project was canceled after World War II. After World War II, US control of the canal and the Canal Zone surrounding it became contentious; relations between Panama and the United States became increasingly tense. Many Panamanians felt that the Zone rightfully belonged to Panama; student protests were met by the fencing-in of the zone and an increased military presence there. Demands for the United States to hand over the canal to Panama increased after the Suez Crisis in 1956, when the United States used financial and diplomatic pressure to force France and the UK to abandon their attempt to retake control of the Suez Canal, previously nationalized by the Nasser regime in Egypt. Panamanian unrest culminated in riots on Martyr's Day, 9 January 1964, when about 20 Panamanians and 3–5 US soldiers were killed. A decade later, in 1974, negotiations toward a settlement began and resulted in the Torrijos–Carter Treaties. On 7 September 1977, the treaty was signed by President of the United States Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos, de facto leader of Panama. This mobilized the process of granting the Panamanians free control of the canal so long as Panama signed a treaty guaranteeing the permanent neutrality of the canal. The treaty led to full Panamanian control effective at noon on 31 December 1999, and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) assumed command of the waterway. The Panama Canal remains one of the chief revenue sources for Panama. Before this handover, the government of Panama held an international bid to negotiate a 25-year contract for operation of the container shipping ports located at the canal's Atlantic and Pacific outlets. The contract was not affiliated with the ACP or Panama Canal operations and was won by the firm Hutchison Whampoa, a Hong Kong–based shipping interest owned by Li Ka-shing. 21st century In 2015, Hutchison Whampoa merged with Cheung Kong Group and was renamed CK Hutchison Holdings. Trump Administration comments and reactions On 21 December 2024, then US President-elect Donald Trump asserted that the United States should retake control of the Panama Canal from Panama, claiming that the rates Panama was charging American ships were "exorbitant" and in violation of the Torrijos–Carter Treaties. The following day, he claimed that the canal was "falling into the wrong hands", referring to China. Shortly after Trump's comments, Panamanian president José Raúl Mulino responded, denying that the United States was being unfairly charged or that anyone besides Panama was in full control of the canal, and affirming that the canal was part of the country's "inalienable patrimony". Though the Hong Kong company Hutchison Port Holdings does have a concession to operate two ports near the ends of the canal – the Balboa port on the Pacific side and the Cristóbal port on the Atlantic side – neither these ports nor the company control access to the canal. Three other ports near the canal's ends are operated by companies from Taiwan and Singapore, and joint venture from the United States and Panama. On 24 December, a protest was held at the US Embassy in Panama City over Trump's threat to take back the Panama Canal. Protesters referred to him as a "public enemy" of Panama. On the same day, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), made up of ten Central and South American countries, denounced Trump's comments and affirmed its support for Panama's "sovereignty, territorial integrity and self-determination." In a 7 January 2025 press conference, Trump vowed to gain control of the Panama Canal. He refused to rule out economic and military action against Panama to seize control of the canal, to secure what he called US "economic security." He reiterated his intent to take back control of the canal in his inaugural address on 20 January. On 5 February, the United States Department of State posted on Twitter that the Panama Canal would no longer be charging United States government vessels to cross. President Mulino called this an "intolerable" falsehood, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio (who had departed Panama a few days earlier) had to correct the announcement, saying he "expects" Panama to begin doing so in return for the Torrijos–Carter Treaties' guarantee of US military protection in the event of an attack on the canal. According to The New York Times, the Hong Kong-based Li family felt "under political pressure to exit the ports business"; discussions with BlackRock about the Panama Canal had begun only a few weeks prior, coinciding with the beginning of the Trump administration. In early 2026, the Panama High Court ruled that the concessions offered to Hong Kong firm CK Hutchison Holdings were unconstitutional and cancelled their contract. Panama's government confirmed that operations at the Canal would not be affected by the decision. On 23 February 2026, the Panama Maritime Authority took over the operations of the ports of Balboa and Cristobal. According to reports, following the 2026 Iran war, the canal saw a traffic increase of up to 10%, following the crisis in the Middle East. The most notable aspect was the liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers transporting energy exports from the United States to Asia. ==Canal==

Layout While globally the Atlantic Ocean is east of the isthmus and the Pacific is west, the general direction of the canal passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific is from northwest to southeast, because of the shape of the isthmus at the point the canal occupies. The Bridge of the Americas () at the Pacific side is about a third of a degree east of the Colón end on the Atlantic side. Still, in formal nautical communications, the simplified directions "southbound" and "northbound" are used. The canal consists of artificial lakes, several improved and artificial channels, and multiple sets of locks. The original locks take ships up to panamax size and the new expansion locks up to neopanamax size. An additional artificial lake, Alajuela Lake (known during the American administration as Madden Lake), acts as a reservoir for the canal. The layout of the canal as seen by a ship passing from the Atlantic to the Pacific is: • From the formal marking line of the Atlantic Entrance, one enters Limón Bay (Bahía Limón), a large natural harbor. The entrance runs . It provides a deepwater port (Cristóbal), with facilities like multimodal cargo exchange (to and from train) and the Colón Free Trade Zone (a free port). • A channel forms the approach to the locks from the Atlantic side. • The Gatun Locks (Panamax) or the Agua Clara Locks (NeoPanamax) are three-stage flight of locks long, that lift ships to the Gatun Lake level, some above sea level. • Gatun Lake, an artificial lake formed by the building of the Gatun Dam, carries vessels across the isthmus. It is the summit canal stretch, fed by the Gatun River and emptied by basic lock operations. From the lake, the Chagres River, a natural waterway enhanced by the damming of Gatun Lake, runs about . Here the upper Chagres River feeds the high-level-canal stretch. • The Culebra Cut slices through the mountain ridge, crosses the continental divide and passes under the Centennial Bridge. The route then splits depending on the size of the ship. • For Panamax ships, the single-stage Pedro Miguel Lock, which is long, is the first part of the descent with a lift of . Panamax ships then proceed through the artificial Miraflores Lake long, and above sea level before reaching the two-stage Miraflores Locks. These are long, with a total descent of at mid-tide. • For Neopanamax ships, there is only one set of locks, these are the Cocoli locks which are three-stage flight of locks. • From the Miraflores or Cocoli Locks, the ship reaches Balboa harbor, again with multimodal exchange provision (here the railway meets the shipping route again) along with several large container terminals. Nearby is Panama City. • From this harbor an entrance/exit channel leads to the Pacific Ocean (Gulf of Panama), from the Miraflores Locks, passing under the Bridge of the Americas. Thus, the total length of the canal is . In 2017 it took ships an average of 11.38 hours to pass between the canal's two outer locks. Navigation Gatun Lake provides the water used to raise and lower vessels in the Canal, gravity-fed into each set of locks. Created in 1913 by damming the Chagres River, the Gatun Lake is a key part of the Panama Canal, providing the millions of liters of water necessary to operate its locks each time a ship passes through. At time of formation, Gatun Lake was the largest human-made lake in the world. Lock size Because of the importance of the canal to international trade, many ships are built to the maximum size allowed. gate at Gatún For its first century, the width and length of ships that may transit the canal was limited by the Pedro Miguel Locks; their draft by the canal's minimum depth; and their height by the main span of the Bridge of the Americas at Balboa. Ships built to those limits are known as Panamax vessels. A Panamax cargo ship typically has a deadweight tonnage (DWT) of 65,000–80,000 tons, but its actual cargo is restricted to about 52,500 tons because of the canal's draft restrictions within the canal. The longest ship ever to transit the canal was the San Juan Prospector (now Marcona Prospector), an ore-bulk-oil carrier that is long with a beam of . Initially the locks at Gatun were designed to be wide. In 1908, the United States Navy requested that the width be increased to at least to allow the passage of large warships. A compromise was made and the locks were built wide. Each lock is long, with the walls ranging in thickness from at the base to at the top. The central wall between the parallel locks at Gatun is thick and over high. The steel lock gates measure an average of thick, wide, and high. Panama Canal pilots were initially unprepared to handle the flight decks of aircraft carriers, which protrude beyond the hull on either side of the ship. When made her first trip through the Gatun Locks in 1928, the ship knocked over all the concrete lamp posts along the canal. In 2016, a decade-long expansion project created larger locks, allowing bigger ships to transit through deeper and wider channels. Tolls As with a toll road, vessels transiting the canal must pay tolls. Tolls for the canal are set by the Panama Canal Authority and are based on vessel type, size, and the type of cargo. For container ships, the toll is assessed on the ship's capacity expressed in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), one TEU being the size of a standard intermodal shipping container. Effective 1 April 2016, this toll went from US$74 per loaded container to $60 per TEU capacity plus $30 per loaded container for a potential $90 per TEU when the ship is full. A Panamax container ship may carry up to . The toll is calculated differently for passenger ships and for container ships carrying no cargo ("in ballast"). , the ballast rate is US$60, down from US$65.60 per TEU. Passenger vessels in excess of 30,000 tons (PC/UMS) pay a rate based on the number of berths, that is, the number of passengers that can be accommodated in permanent beds. Since 1 April 2016, the per-berth charge is $111 for unoccupied berths and $138 for occupied berths in the Panamax locks. Starting in 2007, this fee has greatly increased the tolls for such ships. Passenger vessels of less than 30,000 tons or less than 33 tons per passenger are charged according to the same per-ton schedule as are freighters. Almost all major cruise ships have more than 33 tons per passenger; the rule of thumb for cruise line comfort is generally given as a minimum of 40 tons per passenger. Most other types of vessels pay a toll per PC/UMS net ton, in which one "ton" is actually a volume of . (The calculation of tonnage for commercial vessels is quite complex.) , this toll is US$5.25 per ton for the first 10,000 tons, US$5.14 per ton for the next 10,000 tons, and US$5.06 per ton thereafter. As with container ships, reduced tolls are charged for freight ships "in ballast", $4.19, $4.12, $4.05 respectively. In April 2016, a more complicated toll system was introduced, having the neopanamax locks at a higher rate in some cases, natural gas transport as a new separate category and other changes. In October 2017, there were modified tolls and categories of tolls in effect. Small (less than 125 ft) vessels up to 583 PC/UMS net tons when carrying passengers or cargo, or up to 735 PC/UMS net tons when in ballast, or up to 1,048 fully loaded displacement tons, are assessed minimum tolls based upon their length overall, according to the following table, from April 2015: Morgan Adams of Los Angeles, California, was the first toll received by the US government for the use of the Panama Canal by a pleasure boat. His boat Lasata passed through the Zone on 14 August 1914. The crossing occurred during a sea voyage from Jacksonville, Florida, to Los Angeles in 1914. The most expensive regular toll for canal passage to date was charged in April 2010, to the cruise ship Norwegian Pearl, which paid US$375,600. The average toll is around US$54,000. The highest fee for priority passage charged through the Transit Slot Auction System was US$220,300, paid in August 2006, by the Panamax tanker Erikoussa, bypassing a 90-ship queue waiting for the end of maintenance work on the Gatun Locks, and avoiding a seven-day delay. The normal fee would have been US$13,430. The lowest toll ever paid was 36 cents, , by American Richard Halliburton who swam the Panama Canal in 1928. ==Issues leading to expansion==

Efficiency and maintenance Opponents to the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties feared that efficiency and maintenance would suffer following the US withdrawal from the Panama Canal Zone; however, this has been proven not to be the case. In 2004, it was reported that canal operations, capitalizing on practices developed during the American administration, were improving under Panamanian control. Canal Waters Time (CWT), the average time it takes a vessel to navigate the canal, including waiting time, is a key measure of efficiency; in the first decade of the 2000s, it ranged between 20 and 30 hours, according to the ACP. The accident rate has also not changed appreciably in the past decade, varying between 10 and 30 accidents each year from about 14,000 total annual transits. An official accident is one in which a formal investigation is requested and conducted. Increasing volumes of imports from Asia, which previously landed on US West Coast ports, are now passing through the canal to the American East Coast. In 2007, the total number of ocean-going transits increased from 11,725 in 2003 to 13,233, falling to 12,855 in 2009. The canal's fiscal year runs from October to September. This has been coupled with a steady rise in average ship size and in the numbers of Panamax vessels passing through the canal. The total tonnage carried rose from 227.9 million PC/UMS tons in fiscal year 1999 to a then record high of 312.9 million tons in 2007, and falling to 299.1 million tons in 2009. at work In the first decade after the transfer to Panamanian control, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) invested nearly US$1 billion in widening and modernizing the canal, with the aim of increasing capacity by 20 percent. The ACP cites a number of major improvements, including the widening and straightening of the Culebra Cut to reduce restrictions on passing vessels, the deepening of the navigational channel in Gatun Lake to reduce draft restrictions and improve water supply, and the deepening of the Atlantic and Pacific entrances to the canal. This is supported by new equipment, such as a new drill barge and suction dredger, and an increase of the tug boat fleet by 20 percent. Improvements have been made to the canal's operating machinery, including an increased and improved tug locomotive fleet, the replacement of more than of locomotive track, and new lock machinery controls. Improvements have been made to the traffic management system to allow more efficient control over ships in the canal. The rains also caused an access road to the Centenario Bridge to collapse. Capacity The canal handles more vessel traffic than had ever been envisioned by its builders. In 1934, it was estimated that the maximum capacity of the canal would be around 80 million tons per year. In 2015, canal traffic reached 340.8 million tons of shipping. To increase capacity, a number of improvements have been made to maximize the use of the locking system: • Implementation of an enhanced locks lighting system; • Construction of two tie-up stations in Culebra Cut; • Widening Culebra Cut from ; • Improvements to the tugboat fleet; • Implementation of the carousel lockage system in Gatun locks; • Development of an improved vessel scheduling system; • Deepening of Gatun Lake navigational channels from PLD; • Modification of all locks structures to allow an additional draft of about ; • Deepening of the Pacific and Atlantic entrances; • Construction of a new spillway in Gatun, for flood control. These improvements enlarged the capacity from 300 million PCUMS in 2008, to 340 PCUMS in 2012. These improvements were started before the new locks project, and are complementary to it. Competition The canal faces increasing competition from other quarters. Because canal tolls have risen as ships have become larger, some critics have suggested that the Suez Canal is now a viable alternative for cargo between Asia and the US East Coast. The Panama Canal, however, continues to serve more than 144 of the world's trade routes and the majority of canal traffic comes from the "all-water route" from Asia to the US East and Gulf Coasts. An alternative route through Nicaragua and Lake Nicaragua has been proposed. On 15 June 2013, Nicaragua awarded the Hong Kong-based HKND Group a 50-year concession to develop a canal through the country. In February 2018, analysts widely viewed the project as defunct, though the head of the project insisted work was on-going. In April 2018 HKND Group closed its offices, leaving no forwarding address or telephone numbers to be reached. The increasing rate of melting of ice in the Arctic Ocean has led to speculation that the Northwest Passage or Arctic Bridge may become viable for commercial shipping. This route would save on the route from Asia to Europe compared with the Panama Canal, possibly leading to a diversion of some traffic to that route. However, such a route is beset by unresolved territorial issues and would still hold significant problems owing to ice. Trade and Economic Impact of the Panama Canal The Panama Canal has been a vital conduit for global trade since its completion in 1914. By linking the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean, the canal has significantly reduced maritime travel time and costs, facilitating economic growth and international commerce. Over the past century, the canal has evolved through expansions and policy changes, further strengthening its role in global trade networks. It is an integral part of the global maritime transportation network. The expansion of the Panama Canal, completed in 2016, allowed for the transit of larger Neopanamax ships, nearly tripling its previous capacity. This development had a profound impact on global trade routes, particularly for container ships, liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, and bulk commodities. By accommodating larger vessels, the canal has helped reduce transportation costs for major exporters such as the United States, China, and Japan. Additionally, it has shifted trade dynamics by increasing the viability of East Coast ports in the United States, which have experienced higher traffic as a result of the expansion. The Panama Canal plays a central role in global commerce. Over 5% of world trade passes through the canal annually, with key commodities including grain, petroleum products, and manufactured goods. The ship's submerged volume is not relevant to this amount of water. During the dry season, when there is less rainfall, there is also a shortage of water in Gatun Lake. As a signatory to the 2000 United Nations Global Compact and member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the ACP developed an environmentally and socially sustainable program for expansion, which protects the aquatic and terrestrial resources of the canal watershed. The expansion uses three water-saving basins at each new lock, diminishing water loss. It also preserves freshwater resources along the waterway by reusing 60 percent of water from the basins in the locks in each transit. The mean sea level at the Pacific side is about higher than that of the Atlantic side due to differences in ocean conditions such as water density and weather. The 2015–2016 fiscal year was one of the driest periods on record, restricting ships passage; 2019 was the fifth driest year for 70 years. Temperature rise has also caused an increase in evaporation. In normal times, 36 ships can transit the canal each day, but in early December 2023, ships were backing up because only 22 ships per day could transit due to low water levels. In January 2024, 24 ships per day were allowed to transit. In 2025, the canal authorities begun plans to improve water levels in the canal by building a new dam to feed Lake Gatun, the fresh water source for canal operations. ==Third set of locks project (expansion)==

An enlargement scheme of the canal was completed and officially opened in June 2017. The project came out because changes in shipping patternsparticularly the increasing numbers of larger-than-Panamax shipsnecessitated changes to the canal for it to retain a significant market share of transit between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. By 2011, it was estimated 37 percent of the world's container ships had become too large for the earlier canal and locks. The maximum sustainable capacity of the original canal, given some relatively minor improvement work, was estimated at 340 million PC/UMS tons per year; it was anticipated that this capacity would have been reached by 2012 as close to 50% of transiting vessels were already using the full width of the locks. After a long period of consideration, an enlargement scheme to allow for a greater number of transits and the ability to handle larger ships, similar to the Third Lock Scheme of 1939, was recommended by the Panama's government canal authority. The expansion proposal was estimated to cost and expected to double the canal's shipping capacity by allowing both the passage of longer and wider Post-Panamax ships, with an increase in overall traffic. This proposal was approved in a national referendum by about 80% on 22 October 2006. The canal expansion began in 2007. On 3 September 2007, thousands of Panamanians stood across from Paraíso Hill in Panama to witness a huge initial explosion and launch of the Expansion Program. The first phase of the project was the dry excavations of the wide trench connecting the Gaillard Cut with the Pacific coast, removing 47 million cubic meters of earth and rock. It was announced in July 2009 that the Belgian dredging company Jan De Nul, together with a consortium of contractors consisting of the Spanish Sacyr Vallehermoso, the Italian Impregilo, and the Panamanian company Grupo Cusa, had been awarded the contract to build the six new locks for US$3.1 billion. The design of the locks is a carbon copy of the Berendrecht Lock, which is 68 m wide and 500 m long, making it the second largest lock in the world after the Kieldrecht lock in the port of Antwerp, Belgium. By June 2012, a 30 m reinforced concrete monolith had been completed, the first of 46 such monoliths which will line the new Pacific-side lock walls. By early July 2012, however, it was announced that the canal expansion project had fallen six months behind schedule, leading expectations for the expansion to open in April 2015 rather than October 2014, as originally planned. By September 2014, the new gates were projected to be open for transit at the "beginning of 2016". ship passing through the Agua Clara locks In January 2014, a contract dispute threatened the progress of the project. There was a delay of less than two months however, with work by the consortium members reaching goals by June 2014. In June 2015, flooding of the new locks began: first on the Atlantic side, then on the Pacific; by then, the canal's re-inauguration was slated for April 2016. On 23 March 2016, the expansion inauguration was set for 26 June 2016. The expansion was completed in substance in 2016. The original locks, now over 100 years old, allow engineers greater access for maintenance, and are projected to continue operating indefinitely. The expansion plan include two new flights of locks built parallel to, and operated in addition to, the old locks: one east of the existing Gatun locks, and one southwest of the Miraflores locks, each supported by approach channels. Each flight ascends from sea level directly to the level of Gatun Lake; the existing two-stage ascent at Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks was not replicated. The new lock chambers feature sliding gates, doubled for safety, and are long, wide, and deep. This allows the transit of vessels with a beam of up to , an overall length of up to and a draft of up to , equivalent to a container ship carrying around 12,000 containers, each in length (TEU). The new locks are supported by new approach channels, including a channel at Miraflores from the locks to the Gaillard Cut, skirting Miraflores Lake. Each of these channels is wide, which will require post-Panamax vessels to navigate the channels in one direction at a time. The Gaillard Cut and the channel through Gatun Lake were widened to at least on the straight portions and at least on the bends. The maximum level of Gatun Lake was raised from . Each flight of locks is accompanied by nine water reuse basins (three per lock chamber), each basin being about wide, long and deep. These gravity-fed basins allow 60 percent of the water used in each transit to be reused; the new locks consequently use 7 percent less water per transit than each of the existing lock lanes. The deepening of Gatun Lake and the raising of its maximum water level also provide capacity for significantly more water storage. These measures allow the expanded canal to operate without constructing new reservoirs. ==Environmental and ecological consequences==

The Panama Canal, one of the most important chokepoints in global trade, has caused many environmental and ecological problems since it was built and expanded. These problems include deforestation, the spread of invasive species, water and air pollution, and water shortage. Deforestation in the Panama Canal drainage basin has been a problem for decades. In 1978, researchers said that "clearing the forest in the [drainage basin] might kill the canal." By 1985, the forested area had dropped to 30%. As of 2000, deforestation from human population growth, land degradation, and erosion continued to harm the ecosystem. One example is the Asian green mussel, first found in Caribbean waters in the late 1990s, which has spread through the canal. These invasive species can harm local ecosystems and compete with native species. Ships passing through the canal regularly pollute the water. For example, in 1986, a crude oil spill east of the Caribbean entrance to the canal killed plants and invertebrates in the area. The shipping industry also releases emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane. The Panama Canal, as a chokepoint, has a lot of heavy traffic and delays, which leads to burning more fuel and producing more emissions than needed. These emissions are a major concern because they contribute to climate change and increase environmental problems. The Panama Canal uses a lot of fresh water from the Gatún Lake, which is Panama City's primary source of potable water. For each ship that passes through, about 200 million liters (52 million gallons) of freshwater are needed. This water use has serious environmental and social impacts. During a drought in 2019, Gatún Lake's water levels dropped to historic lows because so much water was being used for the canal. ==Planned Indio River Reservoir==

In response to severe drought conditions that significantly impacted the Panama Canal's operations in 2023 and 2024, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announced plans to construct a new reservoir on the Indio River. The project aims to augment the canal's water supply and ensure consistent operations amid increasing climate variability. The reservoir, estimated to cost $1.6 billion, will include a dam and hold approximately 1.25 billion cubic meters of water. It is expected to provide water for up to 15 additional daily transits during the dry season and support over half of Panama's population with drinking water. This development followed a Panamanian Supreme Court decision in 2023 that redefined the legal boundaries of the canal’s watershed, enabling water projects like the Indio River reservoir to proceed beyond the traditional limits. Construction is expected to begin in 2027 and take approximately six years to complete. ==Other proposed competing canal and rail routes==

Nicaragua canal On 7 July 2014, Wang Jing, chairman of the HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co. Ltd. (HKND Group) advised that a route for Nicaragua's proposed canal had been approved. The construction work was projected by HKND to begin in 2014 and take five years, although there had been little progress before the project's abandonment. The Nicaraguan parliament approved plans for the canal through Nicaragua and according to the deal, the company would have been responsible for operating and maintaining the canal for a 50-year period. By May 2017, no concrete action had been reportedly taken constructing the canal and further doubts were expressed about its financing. By 2018, the canal project was widely viewed as defunct. Colombia rail link In 2011, Colombia's then-president Juan Manuel Santos announced a proposal for a railway between Colombia's Pacific and Caribbean coasts. However, in 2015 the director of the Colombia-China Chamber of Commerce said the proposal "was mentioned in 2011 and subsequently had minimal relevance". As of 2025, the project is still only in the proposal stages. Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec The Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT, by its initials in Spanish) is primarily a railway, with the Tren Interoceánico, to transport cargo and passengers from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. Work started in 2019 and it opened for passenger services in December 2023, with all the works related to it having begun operation by July 2024. The Corridor is expected to have certain advantages over the Panama Canal, such as its speed, being able to transport cargo from one ocean to the other in about six hours, and its location, being closer to the United States than Panama, in addition to the proposed creation of ten industrial parks in the Isthmus with various tax benefits to encourage private investment. However, despite being often described as a potential alternative/competitor to the Panama Canal, the ambassador of Panama in Mexico, Alfredo Oranges, and the former director of the CIIT, Rafael Marín Mollinedo, have stated that they do not see the CIIT in this way, and that they prefer to see it as a "complement" to the Panama Canal, which could relieve the intense traffic the Canal has to cope with, with Panama having proposed collaborating with the Mexican government to make the Corridor more efficient. ==Master Key to Panama Canal and Honorary Pilots==

During the last one hundred years, the Panama Canal Authority has granted membership in the "Esteemed Order of Bearers of the Master Key of the Panama Canal" and appointed a few "Honorary Lead Pilots" to employees, captains and dignitaries. One of the most recent was US Federal Maritime Commissioner Louis Sola, who was awarded for his work for supporting seafarers during the COVID-19 pandemic and previously transiting the canal more than 100 times. On the date of 25 April 2006, was awarded the title of Panama Canal Honorary Pilot the Senior Captain Raffaele Minotauro, an Italian citizen, an Unlimited Oceangoing Shipmaster Senior Grade, of the former Italian governmental navigation company known as the "Italian Line". This award was also given to Commodore Ronald Warwick, a British citizen, in 2014, a former Master of the Cunard Liners Queen Elizabeth 2 and RMS Queen Mary 2, who has traversed the Canal more than 50 times. ==See also==