Millionth ship crosses the Panama Canal

Panama City: Ninety six years after it was opened for traffic the Panama Canal saw passage of the millionth vessel across its various artificial lakes, artificial channels and three sets of locks. The merchantman was a Hong Kong-flagged Chinese bulk carrier, ''Fortune Plum''.

Panama Canal authorities have marked the milestone by presenting the ship's captain a plaque and a photo of the vessel as it crossed the waterway on 4 September.

Panama Canal vice president of operations Manuel Benitez presented the memento to ship captain Ji Jian on Wednesday as the ship headed back to Asia.

Built by the United States in 1914, Panama regained sovereignty over the canal in 1999.

About 4 per cent of the world's maritime trade passes through the canal's locks.

Last year, authorities commenced work on the waterway's biggest expansion project which will add two wider sets of locks that can accommodate wider vessels. The project will extend over seven-years and cost $5.25 billion.

The Panama Canal was opened for international use on 15 August 1914, which, coincidentally, was also the same month that saw commencement of fighting in Europe and the onset of World War I.

The Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a 77 km (48 miles) ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is one of the key transit points for international maritime trade.

Construction of the canal commenced in 1904 and was completed in 1914.

From an early traffic of about 1,000 ships, annual traffic touched 14,702 vessels in 2008, measuring a total 309.6 million Panama Canal/Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS) tons.

The successful completion of the Suez Canal project in 1869 provided a fillip to the project and it became one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken.

Its completion had an enormous impact on international shipping as it replaced the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America, as the favoured route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Its impact on the economics of international trade may be gauged from the fact that a ship sailing from New York to San Francisco via the canal travels 9,500 km (5,900 miles), well under half the 22,500 km (14,000 miles) route around Cape Horn.

Transit through the canal will take anywhere between 8-10 hours.

The maximum size of vessel that can use the canal is known as Panamax. With the widening of the Panama Canal the new sized ships will be referred to as the New Panamax.

A brief history

The idea for a canal near Panama goes back in time to the early 16th century.

The Panama Railway was built across the isthmus, opening in 1855 and this overland link became a vital piece of infrastructure, greatly facilitating trade and largely determining the later canal route.

Also in 1855, William Kennish, an engineer in the employ of the United States government, surveyed and issued a report on a route for a proposed Panama Canal. His report was published in a book.

The French were the first to attempt to build a canal in 1880 but the effort was abandoned after 21,900 workers died, largely from disease (particularly malaria and yellow fever) and landslides.

The United States, under president Theodore Roosevelt, bought out the French equipment and excavations for $40 million and began work on 4 May 1904. The building of the canal was completed in 1914, two years ahead of the target date of 1 June 1916.

Careful preparations for the construction resulted in a relatively low death toll during the American construction but still cost the lives of 5,609 workers. This brought the total death toll for the construction of the canal to around 27,500.

The canal was formally opened on August 15, 1914 with the passage of the cargo ship SS Ancon. As mentioned earlier this was also the same month that saw commencement of World War I.

The US controlled the canal and the Canal Zone surrounding it until the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties provided for the transition of control to Panama.

From 1979 to 1999 the canal was under joint US–Panamanian administration. From 31 December 1999 command of the waterway was assumed by the Panama Canal Authority, an agency of the Panamanian government.

After WWII, US control of the canal and the Canal Zone surrounding it became contentious and relations between Panama and the US became increasingly tense.

Many Panamanians felt that the Canal Zone rightfully belonged to Panama and student protests escalated which were met by an enhanced US troop presence and fencing of the Canal Zone.

The unrest culminated in riots in which approximately 20 Panamanians and half a dozen US soldiers died on Martyr's Day, 9 January 1964.

Negotiations toward a new settlement began in 1974, and resulted in the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. Signed by president of the United States Jimmy Carter and Omar Torrijos of Panama on 7 September 1977, this mobilized the process of granting the Panamanians free control of the canal so long as Panama signed a treaty guaranteeing the permanent neutrality of the canal.

The treaty led to full Panamanian control effective at noon on December 31, 1999, and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) assumed command of the waterway.

The canal consists of artificial lakes, several improved and artificial channels, and three sets of locks. An additional artificial lake, Alajuela Lake acts as a reservoir for the canal.

The size of the locks determines the maximum size of ships allowed passage and it is for this reason that vessels built to such a size are known as Panamax vessels.

Tolls for the canal are decided by the Panama Canal Authority and are based on vessel type, size, and the type of cargo carried.

For container ships, the toll is assessed per the ship's capacity expressed in twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs.

The most expensive regular toll for canal passage to date was charged on 16 May 2008 to the Disney Magic, which paid $331,200.

The least expensive toll was 36 cents to American adventurer Richard Halliburton, who swam the canal in 1928.

The average toll is around $54,000.

The highest fee for priority passage charged through the Transit Slot Auction System was $220,300, paid on 24 August 2006 by the Panamax tanker Erikoussa, allowing it to bypass a 90-ship queue waiting for the end of maintenance works on the Gatun locks. It avoided a seven-day delay in the process. The normal fee would have been just $13,430.