About Panama Canal

History

Since the discovery of the Pacific coast of Panama, visionaries dreamed of one day creating a great passageway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, thus avoiding the 12,000-mile journey around the tip of South America. That day finally came in August of 1914, after decades of planning and excavation. Although only 40 miles from shoreline to shoreline, the ingenuity and tenacity of the canal's creators are evident with each and every movement of this magnificent lake-and-lock-type canal. It's bound to be a voyage you will never forget.

The Panama Canal extends approximately 80 km. (50 miles) from Panama City on the Pacific Ocean to Colon on the Caribbean Sea. It is widely considered to be one of the world's great engineering achievements. The United States is the largest user of the Canal in terms of cargo tonnage, as either port of origin or destination, although Asian countries are beginning to close the gap. About 12% of U.S. sea-borne international trade, in terms of tonnage, passes through the Canal annually. Ships bound for Japan from the East Coast of the United States save about 3,000 miles by going through the Canal; ships sailing from Ecuador to Europe save about 5,000 miles.

Around 13,000 ships transit the Canal each year, hauling an estimated four- percent of the world's goods around the globe. About 70 percent of all trade through the Canal are coming from or heading to the U.S. Traffic is projected to increase two percent per year.

Fifty (50) million gallons of fresh water are needed to float one ship through the Canal and all of it is supplied free of charge by forests on the surrounding hillsides, which capture the abundant tropical rains and feed the Canal with rivers.

The Panama Canal Authority has implemented a $1 billion improvement program to maintain the Canal and keep it competitive. The program includes the widening of the narrow Gaillard Cut allowing two-way traffic for even the largest ships and increasing Canal capacity.