A traffic jam means ships are taking about 10 days to get through the Panama Canal — take a look at its 109-year history
David Choi,Ryan Hogg
·5 min read
A traffic jam means ships are taking about 10 days to get through the Panama Canal — take a look at its 109-year history
A drought has caused a queue of ships waiting to go through the Panama Canal.
The canal was originally completed in 1914 and expanded in 2016.
Take a look at the canal's transformation over the past century.
A historic drought has caused a long queue of ships waiting to pass through the Panama Canal, one of the world's busiest waterways.
The backlog is likely to affect holiday shopping and the $4.9 billion expected to be paid by shipping companies a year.
The canal was completed in 1914, and it offered a symbol of US "technological prowess and economic power" — although it later became an "irritant to US-Panamanian relations," per the State Department.
An expansion of the canal was completed in 2016, more than $1 billion over-budget and two years behind schedule.
Take a look at the canal's evolution over the years.
Construction of the canal begins.
Construction of the canal begins in 1913.Public Domain
President Theodore Roosevelt at the controls of an excavating machine digging the Panama Canal in 1906.
President Theodore Roosevelt at the controls of an excavating machine digging the Panama Canal in 1906.Public Domain
The Panama Canal locks under construction in 1910. Each of these was 78 feet high and 36 feet wide.
The Panama Canal locks under construction in 1910. Each of these was 78 feet high and 36 feet wide.Public Domain
The first boat to cross the Panama Canal was the SS An con in 1914, which carried a cargo of cement.
The first boat to cross the Panama Canal was the S.S. Ancon in 1914, which carried a cargo of cement.Public Domain
USS Missouri (BB-63) in the Miraflores Locks, Panama Canal, while en route from the Pacific to New York City in 1945. The beam of battleships of this era was determined by Panama Canal lock dimensions.
USS Missouri (BB-63) in the Miraflores Locks, Panama Canal, 13 October 1945, while en route from the Pacific to New York City to take part in Navy Day celebrations. Note the close fit of the ship in the locks. The beam of battleships of this era was determined by Panama Canal lock dimensions. Specifically, the locks are 110 feet wide, and the beam of the vessels are 108 feet and some inches, leaving about 8 inches of clearance, per side.Public Domain
A view of the expansion construction of the Panama Canal.
Expansion of the Panama Canal.Keith Yahl/Flickr
The renovated steel rolling gate, part of the last set of locks on the Pacific side.
A steel rolling gate, part of the last set of locks on the Pacific side, is seen before being installed as part of the Panama Canal Expansion Project in Panama City April 28, 2015.Rafael Ibarra/Reuters
Part of the newly constructed Panama Canal expansion project runs to the left of the Miraflores locks along the Panama Canal.
Part of the newly constructed Panama Canal expansion project runs to the left of the Miraflores locks along the Panama Canal on April 7, 2016 in Panama City, Panama. The $5.3 billion Panama Canal expansion project is scheduled to be completed soon and is projected to double the capacity of the canal.Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The first rolling gate for the new locks on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal is transported on a barge with the help of two tugboats.
The first rolling gate for the new locks on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal, is transported on a barge with the help of two tugboats through the Panama Canal in Panama City October 22, 2014. According to Panama Canal authorities, the Panama Canal's third set of locks has 16 rolling gates, eight for each new lock complex. The expansion project will allow bigger ships to transit, with two new sets of locks, one on the Pacific side and one on the Atlantic side.REUTERS/Rafael Ibarra
A cargo ship navigates through the locks prior to the grand opening.
A cargo ship named Cosco Houston, navigates through Cocoli locks during a test of the new set of locks of the Panama Canal expansion project on the Pacific side in Cocoli, on the outskirts of Panama City, Panama June 23, 2016.Carlos Jasso/Reuters
Another cargo ship navigates through the new locks on a test of the newly expanded Panama Canal.
The Malta flagged cargo ship named Baroque, a post-Panamax vessel, navigates the Agua Clara locks on a test of the newly expanded Panama Canal in Agua Clara, Panama, Friday, June 24, 2016. The canal's expansion project will be officially inaugurated on Sunday.Moises Castillo/AP
A woman takes a selfie as a cargo ship crosses the new Agua Clara locks, part of the Panama Canal expansion project.
A woman takes a selfie as the Neopanamax cargo ship, Cosco Shipping Panama, crosses the new Agua Clara locks, part of the Panama Canal expansion project, near the port city of Colon, Panama, Sunday June 26, 2016. The ship carrying more than 9,000 containers entered the newly expanded locks that will double the Panama Canal's capacity in a multibillion-dollar bet on a bright economic future despite tough times for international shipping.Moises Castillo/AP
In August 2023, the canal was hit by a major drought, severely limiting the number of ships that can get through.
Mauricio Valenzuela/picture alliance via Getty Images
France 24 reported that meteorologists were warning of the El Niño climate pattern, which can cause flooding in some countries but drought in others — and which could make the situation at the canal worse.
"We have to find other solutions to remain a relevant route for international trade. If we don't adapt, we are going to die," Ricaurte Vásquez Morales, the administrator of the canal, told the publication.
Traffic levels through the canal may not return to normal for close to a year, Project44 data suggested.
Mauricio Valenzuela/picture alliance via Getty Images
LONDON—The Conservatives, the world’s winningest political party, were booted out of power in dramatic style on Thursday after 14 years of chaotic and divisive rule.The Labour Party had secured a landslide victory, ending an era of Conservative rule over Britain that stretches back to 2010; the year that the iPad and Instagram were launched and Lady Gaga wore that meat dress to the MTV music awards.In that time, the Conservatives have cycled through five leaders, each of them dragging the party
Former President Barack Obama has reportedly told allies that Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance has made his bid to win back the White House even tougher than it had been previously.The Washington Post reports that Obama gave a harsher private assessment of Biden’s chances of re-election following the debate despite publicly trying to ease concerns by tweeting that “bad debates happen.”The outlet reported that Obama “spoke directly with Biden by phone after last Thursday’s debate to offe
WARNING: This story contains graphic images of a leg injury.Last week, George Mandl, an American vacationing in Montreal, took his eight-year-old son Max to Parc Jean-Drapeau for a swim.It was a hot afternoon, and Max played on an inflatable structure anchored in the park's man-made lake.As his legs dangled in the blue-green darkness, he felt a stabbing pain. He screamed and, when lifeguards pulled him from the water, his leg was bleeding."It felt like a kind of electrical pain, like that pain w
The adult film star, who accused the former President of giving her hush money to keep quiet about their alleged sexual encounter now owes Trump $600,000 (£470,000) in legal costs after a defamation case she brought against him was dismissed. Last month in New York, Trump was criminally convicted for defaming another sexual assault accuser, E.Jean Carroll. The 45-year-old said on the Daily Mail's podcast, Everything I Know About Me, "How is it fair that I have better, more compelling evidence than E. Jean Carroll? And I'm glad she won. They continue to hand her money like it's f**king candy.”
MONTREAL — Ireland's prime minister says he's "absolutely appalled" by an assault in the country's capital that resulted in the death of a tourist from Montreal. Simon Harris on Wednesday described Neno Dolmajian's death in Dublin as "reprehensible" and "horrific" and told parliament the death is now being investigated as a murder. "I'm absolutely appalled at the recent vicious attack in Dublin city centre which resulted in the death of a young man, Neno Dolmajian, and my thoughts are with his l
Corazon Dandan died after being pushed into an oncoming BART train at San Francisco’s Powell Street Station at around 11 p.m on Monday night. The suspect, 49-year-old Trevor Belmont, also known as Hoak Taing, was arrested at the scene and booked into the San Francisco County Jail on suspicion of homicide and elder abuse. Dandan, who was Filipino American, was a dedicated telephone operator at the Westin St. Francis and other hotels.
We have been loving the Instagram outfit pictures of Alix Earle's bikinis, crochet dresses and hotel robes complete with a hair towel from her holiday to Italy.