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The Panama Canal is a 48 mile (77 km) stretch of man-made waterway which cuts its namesake country in two. Built over 10 years at a cost of $375 million and thousands of lives, the canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, thereby enabling ships to avoid the treacherous 8,000 mile (12,800 km) journey around South America.
Vessels which navigate the canal make use of a series of locks which raise them more than 85 feet (26 m) before lowering them again to exit at sea level. Whilst the route around Cape Horn (see p.256) would take a modern ship some 10 days to complete, passage through the canal can take as little as 20 hours. This represents a huge saving for shipping companies, with a standard tanker's daily running costs being in the region of £200,000.
