(Editor’s Note: Former Citizen-Tribune Editor Gary W. Meyer has returned from a two-week trip to Costa Rica and Panama City, where he visited the Panama Canal for three days. The following is first an account of his Panama experiences.)

The giant green freighter didn’t look at first like it could fit into the lock in the canal. Its length appeared to be a serious problem, as it twisted to get its nose into the head of the lock. Six tugboats took up the cause, pushing with all their might on the right front of the boat, straightening out its attempt to enter. About 10 minutes later, their efforts were rewarded. The boat was squared away to enter the canal.

It was then the boat shut off its power, allowing up to eight powerful electrical rail engines (four on each side of the boat) to attach tow lines and propel the freighter the half mile into the lock, where our visitor vessel and a few other smaller boats awaited it. The technology of the 50-mile long Panama Canal is astounding. Boats in recent years have been expanded to take up all but a foot of their space and the sides of the canal locks. The tow ropes connected to the towing engines ensure there is no contact between boat and lock walls. 

Within 15 minutes, the cargo ship was pulled into position behind our visitor boat. While awaiting the cargo ship, our visitor boat had been joined by a 40-foot catamaran and another smaller boat, all tied side-by-side to use as much of the width of the canal as possible.

Behind the cargo boat, the lock gates swung closed and within 15 minutes,  31 feet of water in the lock disappeared to the waters next door. That is the magic of the Panama Canal. Pumps are not used to add or displace water from the locks. Rather, engineers have designed systems to transfer water via pressure from its various heights and lower levels.

How many cargo containers were on that ship? We don’t know. We couldn’t see them.

But, medium sized cargo container boat on the seas now days hold up to 12,000 containers.   The larger ocean-going vessels, for which the Panama Canal was updated in 2015 to allow with  an expanded lock in each of the three lock systems, now can handle up to 15,000 cargo containers. I saw one such ship in the canal that day, and counted the number of cargo containers far above its bow. There were 20 such containers, located side by side, across the top of the boat.  The world is doing a lot of business with the world.

Just a quick note about the owner of the catamaran tied up next to us in the lock. The owner’s name was Nester Lopb, who hailed from Michigan. He and his family and crew  had sailed the Atlantic for a year out of Spain and were enroute to the Pacific for 45 days before returning home to the Midwest. What a life. 

Our guide, Irving Reicardo Cantoral Ferdinez (Yep, the Spanish believe in long names), reported the catamaran owner likely paid $400 in transport fees to get through the 50 miles of the canal. The owner of the cargo transport? $440,000. And, the Panama Canal transports up to 15,000 vessels a year. You do the math.  

It takes on average about 24  hours for vessels to be transported through the canal. But the wait outside each end of the canal could be days, as they queue up. American vessels most use the canal, followed by the Chinese. Europeans are heavy users, as are Japan, Canada and the South American countries. But, a two-three day wait to get into the canal compares very favorably with the long trip around South America, rough seas and stormy weather. That trip averages 15 days. 

There are seven major transporters of products or people who use the canal. Largest users are the container ships. Also using the canal are liquefied gas products ships, lumber ships, oil tankers and “people” vessels. In fact, the first ship we witnessed was the Princess Coral cruise ship when passing through the Miraflores Locks, just before accessing the Pacific Ocean. Two. Other locks systems are the Gatun Locks, on the far north side, accessing the Atlantic (Caribbean),and the Pedro Miguel Locks, which are on the south side of the upper Gatun Lakes region, providing lower levels for ships to enter the Pacific region. 

The Panama Canal, contrary to popular through, is not an east-west structure in Panama; rather, it is a north-south structure. Engineers of the canal used natural waterways – lakes and rivers – for most of the canal. 

We did not have time to talk the politics of the canal, and our President’s stated aim of taking over its operation, after President Carter fittingly transferred its management to Panama in 1999. (They took over its operation in 2013.) America might have some concerns with China and its expansionism, as well as chilly relations with several of the nearby nations. But, that’s another story for a another day.