One of the most significant waterways in the world, the man-made Panama Canal, provides passage for almost 14,000 ocean vessels per year. The canal stretches approximately 48 miles between Colon on the Atlantic coast and Panama City on the Pacific Coast, and it can take between 9 to 10 hours to traverse. The length of the Panama Canal from shoreline to shoreline is about 40 miles (65 km) and from deep water in the Atlantic to deep water in the Pacific about 50 miles (82 km). The canal, which was completed in August 1914, is one of the two most strategic artificial waterways in the world. The Gatun Locks are the first set of locks on the Atlantic entrance of the Panama Canal. They contain three lock chambers that are used to raise the ships over 85 feet above sea level, a site that shouldn’t be missed. The Canal Locks works on gravity flow of water from Gatun, Alajuela, and Mira-flores lakes, which are fed by the rivers. The locks themselves are of uniform length, width, and depth and were built in pairs to permit the simultaneous transit of vessels in either direction.
From its opening in 1914 until 1979, the Panama Canal was controlled solely by the United States which built it. In 1979, however, control of the canal passed to the Panama Canal Commission, a joint agency of the United States and the Republic of Panama, and complete control passed to Panama on December 31, 1999. Administration of the canal is the responsibility of the Panama Canal Authority.
