The Panama Canal is one of those things in the world that everyone has heard of. After all, who has never seen an image like this? (Note - the following photos are from two different trips. It's easy to tell which ones are which - the fuzzy ones are from the old, cheap camera)
This is my second transit of the canal and as such, I was able to notice more of the details. The canal is 51 miles long and connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans (duh). You'd think it runs east/west, but in fact, it doesn't.
It runs Northwest to Southeast - meaning if you're transiting from the Atlantic to the Pacific you wind up 21 miles further east than when you started.
Entering the canal from the Atlantic the first big structure you see is the new bridge:
This is the 'Atlantic Bridge' (not a very creative name, but functional, none-the-less). 6 lanes for cars with 2 monorail lanes. Clearance mid span is 246' and it is a lovely bridge that currently has a curious flaw.
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| Look closely for traffic on the bridge (hint- there isn't any, which is why you see the ferryboat) |
The new bridge doesn't have any connecting roads. It crosses the canal, but for no reason. All in good time. There are several bridges crossing the canal, but only 3 currently span it.
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| This is 'The Bridge of the Americas', completed in 1962. |
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| This bridge is in the process of being removed. It was originally a swing bridge, however the new big locks are in the way of the road. |
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| The cylindrical concrete structure was the swing point support. The old steel structure is in pieces being cut up for recycling. |
The third bridge spanning the canal is the Centennial Bridge:
You can, however, drive across from one side to the other without having to find one of the big bridges.
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| Swing bridge that opens only when the lock is closed |
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| Swing bridge recessed and out of the way of shipping. |
If you work for the canal authority you can walk across the top of the lock gate itself:
Speaking of the locks - the canal opened in 1914 It's tempting to think that the canal and all its components are all 105 years old. Especially when you see:
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| Not a real tight seal. |
The lock doors are massive:
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| 1913 photo |
but the lock doors are removed every 20 years for repair and refurbishment.
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| This is a powerful crane, but it is nowhere near big enough to pick up a lock gate (more on how they do that later). |
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| Not all the lock gates are used for every ship transit. There are extra gates, sometimes used for smaller ships (save on water usage), sometimes used to isolate the other gates for maintenance. |
Even though the lock gates are massive, there actually used to be a way to open them by hand.
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| This is one of the old gear-driven lock mechanisms (now on display at the side of the canal). Back in the day, the design engineers built in a small, hand powered, cog to rotate the main gear. It would take The Incredible Hulk a week to crank one open, but it was theoretically possible. |
Currently, the locks are opened and closed by hydraulic pistons.
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| You can see the long, chrome-plated piston on the left. |
The cool thing about the operation of the locks is that they're totally green. By that I mean they're solar powered (in a sense - its rainfall into Lake Gatum that supplies the water). There are no pumps moving water about in the locks. It's all powered by gravity.
But being powered by gravity alone doesn't mean its a sluggish event.
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| When the gigantic valve opens up - the water comes flying out. Keep in mind it takes 52,000,000 gallons to move a ship from one ocean to the other. The lock water passages are 18 feet in diameter. Rumor from our canal crossing docent was that the water tunnels were designed by the same guy that designed the NY subway tunnels. |
The locks themselves are made from thick concrete.
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| Our stateroom was on deck 1. The window at this level lets you get up close and personal with the lock walls. |
Protecting the walls of the locks from being bashed by a ship is a critical job. Some of the protection is passive:
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| Roller doohickey. |
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| Which didn't look very big until I noticed a spare sitting on the side of the canal. |
The biggest protectors of the canal are, of course, the mules.
Watching the operation of the mules is endlessly entertaining. While it appears they pull the ship through the locks, in fact they don't. They serve only two functions - keep the ship centered, and slam on the brakes if need be. The ship engines (turning very slowly) actually control forward movement.
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| The mules (made by Mitsubishi - now on their second generation) are really just cog locomotives. Currently the canal has around 100 mules. The one you see above is one of the newer models. Each has two 290 horsepower electric motors and contains large hunks of concrete ballast. They cost $2M each. For you train guys - the mules use wide gauge tracks (6' wide) |
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| A cog locomotive means that traction is provided by a big round gear on the bottom of the locomotive sticking down into the "flat gear" (the ladder looking thing on the ground). This means that you don't get any wheel slip and provides enormous pulling power. It's rare to see a cog locomotive on flat ground. Normally they're used for trains climbing mountains. |
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| Steam Cog choo choo on Mt Washington, NH |
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| The big drive gear |
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| This powerful winch inside the mule is one of the key systems for keeping a ship properly aligned. |
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| This is one of the original 1914 mules made by GE. The one on display next to the canal is one of only 3 left in the world (40 were built). |
Since keeping the ship aligned and safe requires connecting the ship to the mules, how do they do it?
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| Connecting lines to the ships is still done "the old fashion way" |
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| This is way cool to watch and very deceiving. Using oars instead of an outboard motor keeps them from wrapping the lines around the outboard motor prop by accident. These guys all work together as a team and they make it look easy. If the ship has the ability to lower a line to them - all they have to do is grab the ship line and connect it to their shore line (while not falling or getting yanked overboard). What happens if the configuration of the ship doesn't allow for getting a line to the guys in the rowboat? Then you see the true skill of rowers. They stand up in the boat and heave up a line. Just tossing the line over the ship's railing won't work. The line has to connect directly to either a winch or a cleat. If the line went over a railing it would squash the railing. |
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| As I was saying, on some ships, the line has to be thrown from the rowboat up and through one of the holes (hawsehole to be exact) way up above the waterline. This is where years of practice pays off. While the ship is trying to get into correct position its very vulnerable to cross winds, currents, etc. It's vital to get the lines in place as quickly as possible. |
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| Every year the canal authority holds a contest for all the line crews. The blue target is raised high on the poles. |
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| The contest is taken quite seriously. The winning team's paycheck is doubled for a whole year. |
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| This is the Miraflores Visitor Center along side the Miraflores locks. |
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| It's always packed. BTW Miraflores translates to "look at the flowers" |
While the locks are concrete, the rest of the canal was simply dug out, but not lined (meaning it really is a ditch).
As everyone knows, it wasn't easy to move all that dirt.
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| This is one of the 77 "95-ton" steam excavators used to dig the original canal. The bucket holds 5 cubic yards. The machine required a team of 4 experts to run and was made by Bucyrus in Milwaukee. For grins; the steam shovel was invented by Bill Otis who was the cousin of Elisha Otis (inventor of the elevator) |
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| By modern contrast, this is the Terex excavator used to dig the new canal. Packing 1,500 horsepower it requires only a single operator and is able to move 20 cubic yards per bucket load (around 50,000 pounds). Ironically, for a short time in recent history (2010) Bucyrus owned the Terex company. Today Caterpillar owns Bucyrus. |
Back in the day, workers moved around 1/4 of a billion cubic yards of dirt. The dirt still isn't happy about that and keeps trying to move back into it's original place.
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| The erosion looks like a canyon backyard in Southern Cal |
This requires constant dredging:
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| Mud suckieuppie pump |
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| Panama has one of the largest dredging operations in the world. It's a constant battle to keep the ditch from filling back in. |
About midway through a transit the entertainment shifts from ship watching to politics and police work.
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| Right next to the canal is Renacer Prison. |
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| In 1989, units from the US 82nd Airborne attacked the prison and managed to free 64 political prisoners (including several Americans) |
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| Whom is entertaining whom? |
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| Ironically, Manual Noriega (the infamous drug dealing, gun running, CIA informant, dictator of Panama) wound up serving time in Renacer Prison until his death in 2017 (of a brain tumor at age 83). Noriega was responsible for filling the prison with opposition political leaders before the US snatched him up in 1989. |
One of the sights I find amusing floating in the canal is this behemoth:
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| This floating crane is "Herman the German" (although the Panamanians officially call it "Titan"). For many years this crane was a landmark in Long Beach, California. It was the crane that lifted the Spruce Goose into place when the plane went on display next to the Queen Mary. The name Herman the German comes from the fact that it was built by the Nazis 1941. Herman was one of 4 floating cranes built and spent time during WWII in the Baltic servicing U-boats. After the war it was part of German war reparations and was brought to Long Beach (in pieces through the canal) where it was used to refit the US battleships Missouri and New Jersey. Herman can easily lift one of the lock gates. |
The canal was built before the global economy took off and Asia became such a huge manufacturing concern. For years ships were designed to fit through the existing locks.
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| Even warships were designed specifically to fit in the locks. |
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| This tight fit is no accident. This is the stern of a RORO (roll-on, roll-off car carrier). |
Eventually, economies of scale dictated that bigger and bigger ships were so much more efficient and cost effective that lock size considerations were bypassed.
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| This is the OOCL Japan. It's simply a monster. When you see one in person it's hard to believe that mankind could make something so big, much less that it would actually float. 1,312 feet long, able to load 21,413 containers. Built in 2017 these moving mega-warehouses are much cheaper to build than you might imagine - around $150M. |
The Panama Canal Authority took notice of the increasing size of new ships and decided to do something about it so that the canal did not fade into history. They decided to install new much bigger locks to augment the old ones. The decision was to dig new waterways for the new locks so that they could keep the old ones in continuous service. BUT, they didn't think big enough. At the time of the design of the new expansion locks the Panama Canal Authority reasoned that being able to accommodate post-panamax container ships of 12,000 containers would be big enough. For a few short years that was true. But the new monster ships (like the one above) won't fit through the expansion canal. Oops.
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| This is the Clipper Orion, an LNG transporter in the new locks (not a good ship to be a crew member on if you're a smoker). |
To be fair, there were many considerations to take into account when designing the new canal project. Remember, the lock system is based strictly on gravity-fed water from Gatum Lake. Officials were justifiably worried they might not have enough water to make the system work. To this end they designed a clever water recycling system that saves 60% of the water used (see the ponds below).
When I transited the canal in 2013 you could see the enormous effort being expended to build the new locks.
Instead of swinging lock doors they designed floating doors that slide in and out of recesses (much like pocket doors in a house).
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These are the doors before they were installed. Th
y're so big that they appear to be apartment buildings until you look closer. |
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| Testing the newly installed gate |
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| New gate in closed position |
Some of the technology you find on the canal is kind of amusing in it's simplicity:
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| Notice the yellow and green arrow (used to tell approaching ships which lock to enter) |
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| Not sure I see the point in keeping this system in use. |
While the arrow system seems kind of silly, the old canal controls are still in use. Why? Because they were beautifully designed and built.
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| This is the Mira Flores control building |
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| Inside you find a terrific example of how our old analogue world used to work. No point in updating this system. It continues to work just fine. |
By contrast, the new operating system is what you'd expect - very high-tech.
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| New locks control tower |
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| Unimpressed buzzard |
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| Old lighthouse (no longer operational) |
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| Instead of tearing it down when it was decommissioned, they just painted it black and mounted some cameras on it. |
Transiting the canal isn't cheap. Our ship paid $345,000 for the experience. Transiting the new canal can easily cost more than $1,000,000. When you're on a ship, it's easy to think that crossing the isthmus is always done by water. Not so. The very first mechanical way to cross the isthmus was by train.
Moving containers from one side to the other by train is more cost effective for smaller ships (as long as you have a ship for each side) . There is also a very popular passenger train ($25 one way). Nothing beats transiting on a ship though.
