PANAMA CANAL TRANSIT 2020!

Monday, January 13, 2020

Emerald Princess-Panama Canal Transit

94F, sunny, some clouds

We woke up at 5:50 a.m., sensing the ship was moving toward the canal—it was dark and I wanted to see the Bridge of America lit up.  The full moon glistened over the bridge, adding great dimension to the view. There were many ships in the bay, all lit up too, waiting for transit. By 7:20 a.m. the Emerald Princess was in position to begin the transit.

We are 8 degrees north of the equator, or 620 miles north. 

Bridge of the Americas at 6:15 a.m. (Pacific side)

Bridge of the Americas

The locks in the new lane of the Panama Canal are the 

Cocoli Locks and the Agua Clara Locks. 

The yellow line in the map denotes the difference between our passage (yellow) 

and the original. Otherwise our transit is the same as a ship in the original.

While we are traveling through the canal, which includes the locks, the water leading up to Cocoli locks and away from them, Gatun Lake, and the Agua Clara Locks, we have seen many other ships passing by, going both ways, north and south. Remember the canal goes north (our ship is going north toward the Caribbean) and south. 

Tower on the Cocolico Locks-port side

Here one can see the distance between the ship and the lock

The Emerald is inside this lock-note the water level

Compare the water level

The double gates are opening--they are like a pocket door that 

slides in and out to allow the process, either add water to raise the ship (in this case) or 

to drain water to lower the ship (as in the locks at Agua Clara-Atlantic side

TK-locks in background

Janie

A PRIVATE yacht passing through the historic original locks

almost parallel to us

National Geographic ship moored in Gatun Lake

The Island Princess in Gatun Lake--this ship's breadth is short enough that 

it can go through the historic locks

Gatun Lake is the 2nd largest freshwater lake in the world, so we were told

Empty container ship in the Gatun Lake

The containers are the same as 

what we see on the railroad cars in Erie

One of our two tugboats

View of Agua Clara locks as we prepare to enter, gates partially open

We are following an oil tanker, according to the captain

A crocodile is sending us off

perched on a ramp 

This photo shows the 3 water basins/reservoirs that hold or disperse water to the locks

PRIVATE yacht that we can see in the historic locks parallel to us

The Destination Expert is narrating the entire transit, in public areas and on stateroom TVs. Panama has a service economy, including the Panama Canal, tourism, banking, free trade zone, insurance industry, all 80% of its GDP.  

The canal lock gates, controlled by fiber optics, move at 1.8 meter per second and take 5 minutes to open and close.  Our ship is controlled by Panama Canal pilots on the bridge, as well as two tugboats.  While in the lock and waiting for the water to rise, we are tied to a bollard on shore.

Our passage today costs $633,000. The highest paid fee in the new "lane" to date was for a cargo ship, 161 ft. in length--$829,000. The highest paid in the historic locks for a cruise ship was $375,000 for NCL's Norwegian Pearl. Princess is the biggest cruise line user of the canal.

The Destination Expert mentioned that one ship paid $220,000 to avoid waiting in line to transit  the canal. They did not want to wait for 90 other ships to pass (probably 2 or 3 days worth). 

The top users of the canal are (in order): U.S., China, Chile, European Union, Japan, South Korea, and Peru.

Container ships carry 12,000 to 13,000 containers (like the containers that look like box cars) we see carried on trains traveling through Erie). 

At about 5 p.m. we sailed under the Atlantic Bridge into the Caribbean. What a day! We saw so many different kinds of ships, like oil tankers, natural gas tankers, container ships, a huge yacht, even a crocodile!

The Atlantic Bridge

And I have the best sons ever—they followed the Emerald Princess web cam available at princess.com!  This cruise was made for engineers!! In fact, there is a tour out of Panama City that allows guests to see the inner machinations of the canal.

A view into the Caribbean as we are exiting the canal

I counted at least 30 ships waiting to enter. We were told that the canal now runs 

24 hours a day, but I did not verify that

As David McCullough said in The Path Between the Seas (Simon & Schuster, 1977), “The creation of a water passage across Panama was one of the supreme human achievements of all time, the culmination of a heroic dream of four hundred years and of more than twenty years of phenomenal effort and sacrifice. The fifty miles between the oceans were the hardest ever won by human effort and ingenuity, and no statistics on tonnage or tolls can begin to convey the grandeur of what was accomplished. Primarily the canal is an expression of that old and noble desire to bridge the divide, to bring people together. It is a work of civilization.”

TK’s Takes: Our balcony should have been on the starboard side!

I have probably exceeded the amount of information that my sons and any other readers will want, but if you want more, here it is!!!

From my blog on Monday, February 15, 2010 aboard the Coral Princess--90s / some sun, partly cloudy

It is 11:40 a.m. and we have been up watching the action since a dark 6 a.m. EST. We are through the Miraflores Locks, the Pedro Miguel Lock, we have seen the Calebra Cut, and now we are approaching Gamboa, a little town before we get to Gatun Lake. I wanted to check in live—to tell any possible readers how exciting this is—the enormous technological feat that was accomplished almost a hundred years ago. [1.13.2020—we must have started a little earlier this time]

I was fortunate to see a crocodile just before we went into the locks, like he wanted to tag along, and I saw a monkey climbing while studying the trees along the way. We are a little behind schedule because the pilots were late—there was a reason, but I was not clear about that. Anyway, if anyone is online—we are living the dream right now!!!

After the passage…..

Early this morning we started at 8 knots per hour and boarded 5 pilots to take over the ship. On today’s manifest of ships passing through the canal there were 40 ships and boats: 13 yachts, several sailboats, some motorboats, refrigerated cargo ships, an auto carrier, dry bulk carriers (grain, metal, coal, lumber), tankers with petroleum products, container ships, and a tuna fishing boat. We were #9 in line for passage.

We went under the Bridge of America at 6:27 a.m., the beginning of our actual passage. We entered Caribbean at 4:30 p.m. Ten hours of transit and we enjoyed every second. I fear some might not share our zeal or understand it, but I think I have talked about our interest being so great because of all our reading! I think this may be one of our favorite “ports.” The itinerary has been quite engaging. We would admit that because of the average age of many of the passengers, it isn’t the most active cruise we have been on, but I would truly recommend the Panama Canal cruise for its uniqueness.

MORE ABOUT THE PANAMA CANAL-with some comments for 2020

More facts about the Panama Canal that I find fascinating and for all the engineers that I know (from notes taken during the onboard lecture):

·         1855-the railway system was built across the isthmus

·         1881-1914—construction including both French and American

·         August 15, 1914—inaugural use of the Panama Canal (the Ancon was the 1st ship)

·         1963—24/7 canal transit began

·         5 pilots will board the Coral Princess; one will be on the bridge, the other at the stern. A helmsman will be at the wheel the entire time. The pilots take control of the ship as it approaches the channel

·         8 “mules” made by Mitsubishi and powered by electricity (70,000 lbs. of force) will be used to guide the ship; the ship will proceed under its own power because it has thrusters. If a ship does not have thrusters, it is pulled by tugboats [1.13.2020 note on Emerald Princess—tugboats are used in the new lane of the Panama Canal]

·         the Panama Canal lock system was the first major application of electrical power—it takes 1500 electric motors to run

·         There will be less than 2½ ft. clearance between our ship and the canal. The Coral Princess has a 105 ft. beam [1.13.2020—the Emerald Princess has a 118.4 beam—giving us about a 60 ft. clearance]

·         The Bridge of the Americas on the Pacific side is 400 ft. high so that any ship can pass through. On the Caribbean side there is only a drawbridge. Actual transit begins after the ship passes under the bridge

·         We will be sailing from south to north (many think the canal is west-east)

·         Panama increased the transit cost after they took over the canal

·         A new set of canals/locks is being built-target completion is 2015. The original canal will remain in use. The original canal will be deepened and widened, too. The new canal will accommodate ships that are up to 54 ft. wider, 235 ft. longer, and 10 ft. deeper [1.13.2020—actually finished in 2016]

·         Miraflores Locks are on the southern side—2 sets of locks (one mile). One million cubic yards of concrete was used for each lock

·         Miter gates on the Miraflores locks are the largest in the world—weigh 800 tons each. They recess when a ship passes through. Tides are more significant on the Pacific side and range from 18 to over 20 ft. / Leonardo da Vinci first conceived the idea of mitered gates for canals—it takes 10 minutes to fill or empty a lock [1.13.2020—the Cocoli and Agua Clara gates weigh 4200 tons each in the new lane—the 2016 gates are not mitered, they slide out from the side, across the 180 ft. lock and the water begins to rise. There are two sets of gates at each side of the lock, for safety reasons we were told]

·         Ships are raised from 31 ft minimum to 85 ft. above sea level. [1.13.2020---Same for the new lane]

*          Security is very significant—armed guard [1.13.2020—we saw no guards today]

·         After passing through the Miraflores Locks, we enter the 9 mile “Calebra Cut” which slices through the Continental Divide.

·         Just past Gamboa we will meet the Chagres River which becomes Gatun Lake (with lots of wildlife including crocodiles)

·         Gatun Lake is manmade by an earthen dam. Indigenous population had to move when the lake was created. In 1914 it was the largest manmade lake—164 square miles. People were fearful of the dam at first because the Johnstown Flood in Pennsylvania had just occurred.

·         After Gatun Lake we approach the three Gatun Locks, still the largest and longest in the world. They are basically the same as the Miraflores Locks. However, with the Gatun Locks there was a more massive use of cement and they took four years to build.

·         After the Gatun Locks there is a short approach channel to the Caribbean

·         We will cross the French canal and head to Limon Bay.

·         The official end to the canal passing is when we pass the breakwater, first created by using “spoil” (earth and rocks) from the Calebra Cut.

·         9 million gallons of water are used per ship/2 billion gallons per day; when the new canal is build the locks will recycle water more. The water is not wasted, of course, because it does not disappear [1.13.2020—60% of the water is recycled]

·         Most ships that pass through the Canal are container ships that hold 4400 to 6000 containers (each about the size of a cargo train car)

·         3rd most common ships are auto carriers

·         Our passage on February 15, 2010 will cost about $330,000. That includes the reservation, tolls, insurance, and other charges. The least expensive passage is for pleasure boats under 50 ft.--$1200 [1.13.2020—as mentioned before, our transit cost $633,000-based on number of staterooms]