Tag Archives: Gatun Locks

The Third Set of Canal Locks

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Currently the Panama Canal has two ‘lanes’ for vessels, each with its own set of locks (one set for at either end for vessels travelling from the Pacific to the Caribbean, and one set for ships travelling the opposite direction. As part of the canal expansion, a third set of locks will be added at either end of the canal, one on the Pacific side to the southwest of the existing Miraflores Locks, the other to the east of the existing Gatun Locks.

As might be expected 100 years after the original locks were built, the new sets are considerably more modern in design. Each chamber will have three lateral water-saving basins, for a total of nine basins per lock and 18 basins total. Like the existing locks, these will be filled by gravity, but unlike the existing locks, the water-saving basins will allow the used water to be recycled, rather than just being allowed to flow into the oceans.

10 Years in design, the new lock chambers will be 1,400 ft (426.72 m) long, by 180 ft (54.86 m) wide, and 60 ft (18.29 m) deep. They will use rolling gates instead of miter gates, the swinging gates which are used by the existing locks. Rolling gates are used in almost all existing locks with dimensions similar to those being proposed, and are a well-proven technology. The new locks will use tugboats to position the vessels instead of locomotives. As in the case of the rolling gates, tugs are successfully and widely utilized for these purposes in locks of similar dimensions.

In a recent interview, Nick Pansic, one of the design engineers for the new locks said “The Third Set of Locks project really is the opportunity for the Panama Canal Authority to “unlock the bottle neck” on their current canal system. This project includes the largest water-saving basins ever designed or built and the highest design standards we have come across as international designers for lock projects. Specifically, we are designing for major earthquakes, and the design requirements are extremely high. We’ve been pioneering new technology to advance the design state of the practice – specifically for the lock walls, and also for the lock gates. The lock gates are massive steel structures, over three thousand tons each. Making these lock gates work under a highly seismic event has been a real challenge that the design team has come through with the help of 3D modeling.”

Lighthouses of Panamá

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For many Panamanians, ‘lighthouse’ means the cancelled project to build one of the tallest buildings in Latin America in Panama City. ‘The Faros del Panamá’ (Panama Lighthouse) was a skyscraper complex designed by Chapman Taylor, With a central tower of 84 floors and a planned height of 346 metres, it would probably have been the tallest building in Latin America, had it not been dogged by financial difficulties and been cancelled.

However, for those who sail Panama’s waters or pass through the canal, lighthouses mean the real thing, beacons to keep their vessels from running aground. Not surprisingly, most Panamanian lighthouses are associated with the canal.

The canal is split into 5 sections for the purposes of classifying the lighthouses along the banks, The first section covers the deep water at the Atlantic end of the canal through to Gatun and is termed the ‘Atlantic Section’. The second group of lighthouses, known as the ‘Gatun Section’ cover the section between Gatun and Gamboa. The third group of lighthouses covers the section between Gamboa and the Pedro Miguel Locks and is called the ‘Culebra Cut Section’. Te fourth section, designated as the ‘Miraflores Lake Section’ covers the stretch of canal between the Pedro Miguel Locks and the Miraflores Locks. The final section, from the Miraflores Locks to deep water at the Pacific end of the canal is known as the ‘Pacific Section’.

No definitive list of he canal lighthouses has ever been produced, but 35 were originally constructed to help guide ships using the Canal. Most of these are believed to be still in use. One that is no longer in use was at the Gatun locks and was probably the only lighthouse ever built above a railway line. Many are nothing more than simple automated lights, but there are also numerous ‘traditional-style’ tower lighthouses, which whilst they may no longer be permanently staffed, once were. These can be most easily seen at the canal entrances and locks.

As well as the lighthouses within the canal, or sited to guide ships to and from it, there are other lighthouses around Panama’s coastlines, though many are located on remote islands where they can only be seen by boat. Although none are particularly large or famous, the variety of structures and their unsung contribution to the safety of world trade makes them interesting in their own right.

The Bridge of the Americas

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In response to the growth of motorised transport in the twentieth century, and the efforts to inaugurate a Trans-American Highway, various stop-gap measures were introduced by the US Canal authority. The first semi-permanent link capable of carrying vehicles was a ferry link provided by the Panama Canal Mechanical Division. Two ferries, the Presidente Amador and Presidente Washington were built and entered service in August 1931, carrying passengers and vehicles across the canal. In August 1940, another similar service started, linking US military installations on either side of the canal. On June 3, 1942, the Miraflores swing bridge opened, but like the ferries, this did not provide a permanent link. In November 1942 another ferry, the Presidente Porras, was added in response to the increase in vehicular traffic.

The idea of a bridge spanning the Canal had been around almost as long as the canal itself, and in 1923, provision of a permanent bridge became official Panamanian government policy and was identified as a priority. However, it was not until the Remón-Eisenhower treaty between Panama and the US was signed in 1955, that the US finally made a commitment to build the bridge. The $20,000,000 contract was awarded to John F. Beasly & Company. The Thatcher Ferry Bridge opened on October 12th 1962 at a cost of US$20 million. The bridge crosses the Pacific approach to the Panama Canal at the port of Balboa, near Panama City. The bridge is 1,654m in length, with the main span being 344m long. At its highest point, it is 117 metres above sea level, and provides 61.3 metres of clearance over the canal (at high tide).

The Americans always officially called it the ‘Thatcher Ferry Bridge’, although unofficially, many (including a US Under-secretary of State in his speech during the opening ceremony) referred to it as the ‘Bridge of the Americas’. In Panama it has always been known as the Bridge of the Americas, a name that was made official in a National Assembly Resolution of October 2, 1962. The resolution reading: “The Bridge over the Panama Canal shall bear the name Bridge of the Americas. Said name will be used exclusively to identify said bridge.”

The Japanese Plan to Attack the Panama Canal

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Throughout it’s history, there has never been an attack on the Panama Canal infrastructure, but at least one was planned. During World War II, the canal was an invaluable lifeline for the Allies, a fact not missed by the Axis powers. In 1943, with the tide of the war turned against them, and desperate for anything that might delay the defeat that was beginning to seem inevitable, the Japanese developed a plan to attack the canal locks using a secret submarine that they had developed and managed to conceal from the Allies.

The Canal was well fortified by the Americans, with shore based gun batteries, air and sea patrols and barrage balloons and anti-submarine nets. However, interrogation of prisoners had revealed that security had become lax, and air patrols had almost entirely ceased.

The Japanese had, in their fleet, a number of Sen Toku I-400-class submarines. At the time these were the largest submarines ever built (and would remain so, until the larger nuclear powered submarines began to be built in the 1960s). Not only were the Allies completely unaware of these vessels, but they had been designed and built as submarine aircraft carriers, capable of carrying light bomber aircraft far beyond the range of land-based bombers. Each I-400 submarine carried 3 specially designed Aichi seaplanes, each capable of carrying an 850 kg bomb.

Aided by documents provided by a Japanese engineer who had worked on the Canal’s construction, planning reached a very advanced stage, the pilots had been trained by bombing a full-size wooden replica of the Gatun locks, which had been built and towed out to sea. By disabling the Gatun Locks, which the Japanese believed were the easier target, the expected to be able to close the Canal for at least 6 months.

By attacking the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side of the Canal, well out of range of any land-based bomber, and at the ‘wrong’ end of the Canal, it is quite possible that the plan would have succeeded. Fortunately, events overtook the Japanese, and by the time the war ended in 1945, although planning and training had largely been completed, there were still only 2 I-400 submarines completed and both of these were in Japan, and thousands of miles and weeks of travel away from the Caribbean.