PANAMA CANAL

By : Sainath Choudhary Sonu Tiwary Kapil Patel Teekesh Nagwanshi

INTRODUCTION

Panama Canal is a 48-mile (77.1 km) ship canal in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. It connects via Caribbean Sea. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama. Key conduit for international maritime trade. Panama Canal Project was started in1881 by France, but had to stop because of engineering problems and high mortality due to disease. Later US took the project and took the decade to complete in 1914. Original Owner - La Socit internationale du Canal. Principal Engineer - John Findlay Wallace, John Frank Stevens (19061908), George Washington Goethals.

INTRODUCTION

It was constructed to enabling ships to avoid the lengthy Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America (via the Drake Passage) or to navigate the Strait of Magellan. One of the largest and most difficult engineering Project ever Undertaken. The largest ships that can transit the canal today are called Panamax. The American Society of Civil Engineers has named the Panama Canal one of the seven wonders of the modern world. By 2008, more than 815,000 vessels had passed through the canal.

HISTORY

The earliest mention of a canal across the Isthmus of Panama dates to 1534. When Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, ordered a survey for a route through the Americas that would ease the voyage for ships traveling between Spain andPeru. In 1849, the discovery of gold in California created great interest in a crossing between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Eventually, the Panama Railway was built to cross the isthmus, opening in 1855. In 1855 William Kennish, a Manx-born engineer working for the United States government, surveyed the isthmus and issued a report on a route for a proposed Panama Canal.

HISTORY

In 1877 Armand Reclus, an officer with the French Navy, and Lucien Napolon Bonaparte Wyse, two engineers, surveyed the route and published a French proposal for a canal.French success in building the Suez Canal, while a lengthy project, encouraged planning for one to cross the isthmus. French construction, 188189

In 1881, the first attempt to construct a sea-level canal began under the leadership of Ferdinand de Lesseps, builder of the Suez Canal. Health risks posed to workers in the mosquito-infested Panamanian jungle, principally malaria and yellow fever, cost thousands of lives and caused unanticipated delays. Caused of lives of about 22000 workers.

HISTORY

In 1890 - 1903

At this time, various parties[who?] in the United States were interested in establishing a canal across the isthmus, with some favoring a route across Nicaragua (see Nicaragua Canal and Ecocanal) and others advocating the purchase of the French interests in Panama On November 2, 1903, U.S. warships blocked sea lanes for possible Colombian troop movements en route to put down the rebellion. On November 3 1903, Panama declared their Independence from Colombia. On November 6, 1903, Phillipe Bunau-Varilla, Panama's ambassador to the United States, signed the HayBunauVarilla Treaty, granting rights to the United States to build and indefinitely administer the Panama Canal Zone and its defenses.

HISTORY

In 1904 - 1914

On May 6, 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed John Findlay Wallace, formerly chief engineer and finally general manager of the Illinois Central Railroad, chief engineer of the Panama Canal Project. John Frank Stevens, a self-educated engineer who had built the Great Northern Railroad, and chief engineer of the Panama Canal from 1905 to 1907. He convinced President Roosevelt about feasibility of Canal built with Large Dam and lake system with three double sets of locks to raise ships to the level of the reservoir and then lower them in locks at the other ocean. In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt announced that he would appoint a chief engineer that could not resign. He chose U.S. Army Major George Washington Goethals of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.a strong, United States Military Academytrained leader and civil engineer. He divided the engineering and excavation work into three divisions: Atlantic, Central, and Pacific.

HISTORY

In 1904 1914

The Atlantic division, under Major William L. Sibert, was responsible for construction of the massive breakwater at the entrance to Limon Bay, the Gatun locks and their 3.5 mi (5.6 km) approach channel, and the immense Gatun Dam. The Pacific Division, under Sydney B. Williamson (the only civilian member of this high-level team), was similarly responsible for the Pacific 3.0 mi (4.8 km) breakwater in Panama Bay, the approach channel to the locks, and the Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks and their associated dams and reservoirs. The Central division, under Major David du Bose Gaillard of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, was assigned one of the most difficult parts: excavating the Gaillard Cut (then called the Culebra Cut) through the continental divide to connect Gatun Lake to the Pacific Panama Canal locks. The building of the canal was completed in 1914.

PROFILE OF PANAMA CANAL

GATUN LOCKS

It is a lock system, lifts the ship 26 mtrs high. Having total 6 steps. Three ups and 3 downs. Total length including approach wall is 3 kms.

Gatun Locks

CULEBRA CUT

The next excavation was the Culebra Cut an incision into Panama that extended for nine miles and ended at Gatun Lake

The Culebra Cut at Las Cascadas

GATUN LAKE

At the time of creation it was largest artificial lake. It is of 32 km in length. Created between 1907-14 by the building of the Gatun Dam across the Chagres Rive.

Gatun lake

MIRAFLORES LOCK

is the name of one of the three locks that form part of the Panama Canal. In this lock , vessels are lifted (or lowered) 54 feet (16.5 m) in two stages, allowing them to transit to or from the Pacific Ocean port of Balboa (near Panama City).

Miraflores lock

THE KISS OF OCEANS

The Canal opened for operation in 1914, completing what one artist called the Kiss of Oceans.

CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS

Construction costs = approximately $352 million

Paid to panama = $10 million

paid to French company = $40 million, money previously invested by the French = $287 million the total expenditures were about $639 million.

CONTINUED..

Between 1904 and 1913, a total of 56,307 people worked on the construction of the waterway. Of these, 11,873 were Europeans, 31,071 were from the various Caribbean nations, 11,000 were American, and 69 were not classified. During the US construction period, 232 million cubic yards of earth were removed. This quantity, added to the 30 million removed by the French, provide an approximate of 262 million total cubic yards of earth.

DIFFICULTIES FACED DURING CONSTRUCTION:

1. Disease : Yellow Fever, Malaria 2. Excavation: where to put the dirt, and how to get it there 3. Canal Design: sea level or lock and dam 4. Political Intrigue: who's country is this anyway? 5. Manpower: who's gonna work under these conditions? 6. Financing: what comes after a billion? 7. Logistics: material and equipment on an unprecedented scale. 8. Military Applications: build forts and make sure the battleships will fit.

BENEFITS

The Panama Canal helped the import and export of goods. This created jobs. Trading helped to increase the economy. Travel became easier and faster. environmental contribution. Saving Time. Experiencing Physics. Affordability.

PANAMA CANAL EXPANSION

The expansion of the Panama Canal is a project that will double the capacity of the Panama Canal by 2015. Construction of two lock complexesone each on the Atlantic and Pacific sideseach with three chambers, which include three water-saving basins; Excavation of new access channels to the new locks and the widening of existing navigational channels; and Deepening of the navigation channels and the elevation of Gatun Lakes maximum operating level

CARGO VOLUME

COMPETITION
Northwest Passage

cargo volume transiting the canal will grow at an average of 3 percent per year, doubling the 2005 tonnage by 2025. According to the analysis conducted by ACP and some Shipping experts the canal expansion would be beneficial to both the canal and its users.

Current competitors of the Panama U.S. intermodal system and the Suez Canal.

Canal

are

the

LOCKS

The expansion project will add a third lane through the construction of lock complexes at each end of the canal. The new lock chambers will be 1,400 ft (426.72 m) long, 180 ft (54.86 m) wide, and 60 ft (18.29 m) deep.

CONSTRUCTION TIMELINES

The construction of the third set of locks project is slated to take seven or eight years, by 2014 it may get ready for use.

Estimated cost:

ACP estimated the cost to construct the third set of locks at US $5.25 billion.