Panama Canal

Panama




The Panama Canal is a man-made Canal which joins the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, has had an enormous impact on maritime transport between the two oceans, which replaces the long and treacherous path through the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America . A ship sailing from New York to San Francisco, travel through the channel of 9500 km (6000 miles), well below half of 22500 km (14000 mi) route around Cape Horn. Although the concept of a canal near Panama dates back to the early 16 th century, the first attempt to build a canal began in 1880 under French leadership. After this attempt failed and 21900 workers saw die, the project to construct a channel was attempted and completed by the United States in the early 1900, with the opening of the channel in 1914. The construction of 77 km (48 miles) canal was plagued by problems, including disease (especially malaria and yellow fever) and landslides. By the time the canal was completed, for a total of 27500 workers, estimated to have died in French and American efforts.

Since the opening, the channel has had a huge success, and continues to be a key conduit for international trade patterns. The channel can accommodate vessels from small private yachts to commercial vessels large. The maximum size of the vessel that may use the channel is known as Panamax, an increasing number of modern ships exceed this limit, and are known as post-Panamax ships. A typical passage through the channel from a cargo vessel is about nine hours. 14011 ships passed through in 2005, with a total capacity of 278.8 million tonnes, making an average of nearly 40 vessels per day.


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