Panama Canal Facts

Once you visit the Republic of Panama, you will notice you were never far away from its two oceans. It just takes approximately 60 minutes to go from one coast to the other (Pacific / Atlantic) by land.

Distance of the Panama Canal

The distance of the Panama Canal is only 50 miles long from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Its Atlantic Coast entrance runs northwest to southeast and its about 30 miles north and more than 26 miles east with respect to the Pacific entrance. The distance in between both entrances by air in only 42 miles.

It takes about eight to ten hours to complete a full Panama Canal Transit. The excavation for the Panama Canal was done in the narrowest points and lowest parts of the Isthmus of Panama. This is what now divides North and South America.

Panama Canal Locks

The Panama Canal has a 3 set water lock system; the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic coast entrance, the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks both on the Pacific coast entrance. Each chamber of the Panama Canal Locks has 110 feet wide and 1,000 ft long.

The set of Panama Canal Lock were built in pairs making it possible for two vessels to transit the Panama Canal at the same time in the same direction or different directions.

The Panama Canal is functioning on a 24 / 7 basis for a period of 365 days a year. It has only been closed twice ever since it started operations due to a landslide that occurred in 1915 and on December 20, 1989, when the United Estates invaded Panama during the George Bush government.

Panama Canal Lock System

Operations in the Panama Canal are very simple due to the mechanism developed by its engineers. The water that raises and lowers the vessels in the each of the Panama Canal Locks “stairway whose steps are emptied or filled with water” is supplied by gravity flow from the Gatun Lake. The water enters each Panama Canal Lock through a network of tunnels below each Panama lock chamber. The tunnels are based on 10 sets that extend below the Panama Lock chambers from sidewalls, and 10 sets from the main wall.

The diameters of these water tunnels have 4.5 feet in diameter and water is distributed through 100 openings on the floor of the Panama Lock chamber. Fifty two million gallons of water are used and emptied into the ocean every time a ship transits the Panama Canal.