The Big Ditch

The original French attempt

When the French started to make a canal across the Isthmus of Panama, they planned to excavate a "big ditch" so that ships could travel on flat water from the Atlantic to the Pacific.  Unfortunately, mountains got in the way.  The ditch would have to be quite deep and the sides kept caving in.  When they turned it over to the US, the engineers decided that a series of lochs would be more practical.  The "old" or historic canal, opened in 1914 there were 3 sets of lochs.  The first raised the ship to the level of Lake Gaton, where ships could pass.  The other 2 sets are quite close together and lower the ship to the level of the Pacific Ocean, which is also the level of the Atlantic Ocean.

The "new" Panama Canal runs parallel to the old, but can handle larger ships.  It is expensive to go thru the Canal, with the cost figured on the capacity of the ship in standard units.  The unit used is a shipping container.  You may have seen them stacked up at ports.  They are roughly the size if a semi-trailer.  this establishes the base rate.  Then there is an additional charge for each container on board.  I do not know how they figure passenger ships.  The lowest toll was under $10 for someone who swan through.  A large ship may pay over $1,000,000!

The new canal is on the left