Panama's Canal in a slides

1. King Abdul-Aziz university
Maritime studies
Tanker Operation
Panama’s Canal
Mohammed Al-Eid
0910659

2. Contents:
1. Brief information
2. History
3. Layout
4. Lock
5. Current issues
6. Statistics
7. conclusion

3. • The Panama Canal is an 82-kilometre (51 mi) ship canal
in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean (via the
Caribbean Sea) to the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts
across the Isthmus of Panama and is a key conduit for
international maritime trade.
• One of the largest and most difficult engineering
projects ever undertaken, the Panama Canal shortcut
made it possible for ships to travel between the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans in half the time previously required.
The shorter, faster, safer route to the U.S. West Coast and
to nations in and along the Pacific Ocean allowed those
places to become more integrated with the world
economy.
• Ownership of the territory that is now the Panama Canal
was first Colombian, then French and then American
before coming under the control of the Panamanian
government in 1999. The American Society of Civil
Engineers has named the Panama Canal one of the
seven wonders of the modern world.

4. Construction of Panama Canal:
As the trade flourished between various countries, there
was a need for mass transportation of goods, for which
different types of ships catered. There was always a need
to ship these enormous quantity of goods quickly, for which
the canal construction was adopted. The route adopted
before the construction of the Panama canal was to travel
round the "Cape Horn" (located in southern most tip of
South America), covering a distance of approximately
24000 Kms. This travel takes approximately a month. But
after the construction of the Panama canal, which cuts
between the North and South continents of America, a
ship has to travel only 10000 Kms to reach California, which
is not even half the distance via Cape Horn. This
substantially saved lot of time and costs. Thus the
construction of Panama Canal made a great impact on
shipping and world trade.

5. • 1534 First survey led by Charles I of Spain
a canal is unfeasible
• 1534-1880 Multiple surveys by different countries but
no conclusive results
• 1880 Beginning of construction by French Canal
Company
• 1888 Abandon of French Canal Company for
financial and medical reasons
• 1904 The US re-starts the construction
• 1914 First ship uses the waterway

6. Layout of the canal:
Connection between the Atlantic ocean and the
Pacific ocean
• Length: 77.1 km’
• Height: 26 m
• 3 sets of locks
• 3 artificial lakes (Miraflores,Gatún and Alajuela)

7. The Lock Gates are located at 3 different places over
the length of the canal. Entering the canal from
pacific ocean, we have
• 1. Miraflores lock gates,
• 2. Pedro Miguel lock gates,
• 3. Gatun lock gates.

9. Current issues:
• Efficiency and maintenance
• Capacity
• Competition
• Water issues