PANAMA CANAL

MARCH 24, 2024

What is a trip to Panama if you don’t see the Canal? We booked a cruise down the canal to get the full experience. We had to catch a shuttle from the InterContinental Miramar Hotel. In the shuttle, with us, were two former merchant marines who were on a reminiscent trip. We quickly made friends with Tom and Mike. Between the guide on board the cruise boat and these guys, we got a good education and a few funny stories.

The Panama Canal museum told us the history of the French initiating the construction of a sea to sea canal in 1881, despite engineers telling them that a locks-based canal was the better way to go. The same machinery that built the Suez Canal was not suitable for the rocky Panama terrain. Delays due to breakdowns and the high mortality rate (200 per month with a grand total of 20,000) caused investor trust to fall, which lead to a massive sell off of company shares. The company was financially going down faster than a leaky boat. The company had bribed as many a 500 government officials to keep quiet about the delays so they could keep raising money for the doomed project. They began selling lottery tickets to raise the 600 million francs it believed to be needed to finish the project. By the time the rouse was up and they were found out, 800,000 people lost their life savings to the tune of 1.8 billion gold francs. The PCC received 1.2 billion, of which 960 million was used for the project. The rest was paid in bribes and to line their own pockets. It was one of the biggest corruption scandals of the 19th century. Many people were jailed or fined.

The United States had an interest in the canal since the beginning. When the French had no choice but to back out, the US took over in 1904.

A bit of political background here. Panama was once a province of Colombia, but wanted independence. When the US tried to negotiate with the Colombian government to complete the Canal, the Colombians were hesitant to agree, even though they were offered a $10 million dollar annual payment, it would have granted the US a renewable lease in perpetuity. The Colombians felt that this was insufficient compensation and a threat to sovereignty. It was at this time that Panama decided to separate from Colombia.

It all happened so fast that by the time the Colombian government launched a response to the uprising, the US army were already in Panama. The United States was fully aware of Colombia’s weakened state due to its recent civil war, and took full advantage. They sent warships to block sea lanes against any possible Colombian troop movement to ensure Panama’s success. Colombia threw together an army which may have defeated the Panamanians, but not the US army.

When Panama declared independence in 1903, Roosevelt quickly recognized the new nation and made a similar deal with them. The US was granted rights to build and indefinitely administer the Panama Canal Zone (the land around the canal) and its defenses. 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.

Colombia finally backed down in 1909 after it received $500,000 concession from Panama to cover its share of the debts it owed at independence AND 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.

The United States returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama in 1999.

Much of the work and mistakes were already made by the French, all the US had to do was finish the job. That being said, it still took 400 million USD, 1.4 million kilos (30,000,000 pounds) of explosives and 45,000 workers from 97 different countries to do it. Despite new engineering and medical technology, 5000 people died during the US construction phase.

With the United States now running the show, racism and segregation was rampant. Coloured workers received 40-60% less pay. Although there were 24 schools for the children, the segregation continued until 1955, when the term “Coloured School” was replaced with “Latin- American School”. However, that did not open the “White Schools” to coloured kids.

The Canal today.

The Canal is a 82 km (51 miles) waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The locks at each end lift the ships up 26 metres (85 ft) above sea level, to an artificial lake (Gatun) that was created by damming a river and a lake, to reduce the amount of excavation needed to build the canal. Then the ships pass through a series of artificial canals and lowered at the other end through another series of locks. The original locks are 33 meters (110 feet) feet wide and 300 meters (1000 feet) long.

In 2016 a third lock was added to accommodate the newer, bigger ships. The newest ships are still too big to fit in the new lock. We went through the old lock, it is still a tight squeeze.

Smaller boats shared the lock with the ship.

Little train-type machines run on tracks on either side of the canal. They connect huge ropes to the ships to guide them into position. Work is very specialized in this delicate operation. For example, the people handling the ropes ONLY handle ropes. They have their own union.

An average of 200,000,000 litres (52 million gallons) of fresh lake water is used in the passing of one ship. The fresh water is necessary in order to keep the Atlantic sea life separate from the Pacific sea life. Amazingly, it only takes 10 minutes to fill or empty a lock. It takes 2 minutes for each pair of the gates to open.

Every ship that passes through the canal pays a toll based on its size, type and volume of cargo. Tolls are set by the Panama Canal Authority. Tolls for the largest cargo ships can run about $450,000. Cruise ships pay by berths (number of passengers in beds). A large cruise ship can pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to sail through the Canal. This may seem like an exorbitant amount of money, but when you consider the time savings (8-10 hours vs 22 days to around Cape Horn) and the fuel cost of saving 15,000 km (8000 miles) when mileage is based on gallons per mile (not miles per gallon), then maybe a half million is not so bad. There is a waiting list to pass, however a little extra $$$ can speed up your place in the queue. 2 Billion dollars are collected annually.

The Bridge of the Americas was built between 1959 and 1962. It is an arched bridge that connects the American Continents. The main span measures 344 m (1,129 ft) and the tied arch (the center part of the main span) is 259 m (850 ft). The highest point of the bridge is 117 m (384 ft) above mean sea level; the clearance under the main span is 61.3 m (201 ft) at high tide. The world’s largest cruise ships are still too tall to pass under it, even at low tide.

We sailed past the funky looking Biomuseo, designed by Canadian architect Frank Gehry. Biomuseo is a museum focused on the natural history of Panama.

Our Canal cruise came to an end on the Atlantic side. We were taken back to the hotel where we started. We spent the evening chatting with our new friends, Mike and Tom and promised to keep in touch. Which we have.