Panama Canal Transit - Part 2

Thursday, 31 January 2019

Gaillard (Culebra) Cut

In 2004, a second bridge crossing the canal was completed. The Centennial Bridge crosses the canal at its narrowest point, the entrance to the Gaillard (or Culebra) Cut. This is the part of the canal that passes over the "Continental Divide" between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It is the beginning of Gatun Lake, which connects what were originally two rivers: the Chagres going from the highlands to the Caribbean, and the Rio Grande that went to the Pacific.

The Gaillard Cut.

The Gaillard Cut has lots of navigation aids to help ships navigate the narrow channel.

The Chagres River is the source of almost all of the water for the operation of the Canal.

We swapped Canal Pilots at Gamboa, half-way through the Canal. The pilots come on a Canal launch.

This giant crane, "Titan", was one of four taken from Germany at the end of World War II. It is the only one still in existence, but is scheduled to be sold as scrap in the near future.

A back view of navigation aids and the Titan crane from the "Pipeline Road" the day before our transit.

Gatun Lake

When it was built, Gatun Lake was the largest man-made lake in the world. The Gatun Dam, which created the lake and provides hydroelectric power to Panama, was the largest dam when it was built.

It was a windy day on Gatun Lake. The ship is the same tanker we shared locks with. Once it came up to speed, it could travel much faster than our yacht.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute is located on Barro Colorado, a large island in the lake.

Our first sign that we were nearing the end of the Canal: the Atlantic Bridge in the distance.

Ships line up for their turn to enter the locks at the northern (Caribbean) end of the Canal. The Atlantic Bridge is in the distance. Some of these ships will go through the older, smaller Gatun Locks. The largest ships will go through the new Agua Clara Locks.

Gatun Lake was a good place to see a variety of ships. The only type of ship we didn't see on our transit was a large cruise ship.

Here you can see the enormous size difference between Neopanamax and Panamax ships. The container ship is Neopanamax.

This is a Neopanamax "car carrier" or "roll-on roll-off" ship. They can carry far more than just cars: they also carry a lot of heavy equipment across the oceans. We found the pink color of this ship mildly repulsive!

Another car carrier with a more conventional color scheme. In windy conditions these large ships are particularly difficult to maneuver.

A Neopanamax tanker carrying LNG (liquified natural gas). LNG and LPG (liquified petroleum gas) tankers are new business enabled by the larger new locks.