With the end of construction nearing, the Canal team began to disassemble and go on to other things. Thousands of workers were laid off, townsites were abandoned and moved with hundreds of buildings disassembled or demolished. Gorgas resigned from the Canal commission to help fight pneumonia among workers in the South African gold mines, following which he was made surgeon general of the Army.
Effective April 1, , the Isthmian Canal Commission ceased to exist and a new administrative entity, the Canal Zone Governor, was officially established. Plans were made for a grand celebration to appropriately mark the official opening of the Panama Canal on August 15, But no such grand opening occurred.
There were no international dignitaries in attendance. Observing the transit from shore, Goethals followed its progress by railroad. Galvez accepted our payment and scheduled an Admeasurer measurements for transit are only done by an official representative of the Panama Canal Authority, or ACP for the next day.
In the end doing rigging jobs for Pacific-bound vessels sweetened the deal of a longer stay. Heavy duty fenders are essential for rafting up. Galvez took care of payment as part of his agent services, providing a receipt outlining fees.
The biggest variable is based on the size of your boat. This is a bond to cover potential fines or additional charges which could be incurred by missing an assigned slot, being too slow, needing a water taxi for line handlers, or other events. An agent covers the buffer fee for you. For do-it-yourself transiters, the fee like other official canal tolls can be paid by credit card, in cash, or bank wire transfer at Citibank along with other standard fees.
The buffer will be reimbursed after a successful canal transit is completed. As it was one hour from our scheduled departure, we were stuck without any option to dispute it — delaying transit could incur an ACP fine. Four line handlers are compulsory aboard, and four lines meeting canal transit specifications are required. An agent will organise all of these, or you can source them locally yourself.
Line handlers are commonly recruited from other cruising boats. Whoever comes aboard, make sure they know how to tie a proper knot and have basic boat sense, and will be ready to work instead of take pictures.
While most boats will gravitate towards standard fenders, the budget option of plastic-wrapped tyres are a fine alternative for protecting your hull from the rough concrete wall or your lock neighbour.
Final preparations to ensure a smooth transit include anticipating meals, snacks, and beverages for the duration. Transit typically takes two days, the night spent tied to a large buoy just outside the channel in Lake Gatun. Hot meals are expected by the advisers, as is bottled water and cold Coke. Snacks should be available for the duration. Roy proved to be a significant asset for ensuring a safe transit. That includes wine from Chile and chocolate from Ecuador.
That charge above is chump change though compared to some recent ones hosted by the wider canal. That wider section of the canal was a massive project that now allows full container ships through. This engineering feat cost billions and billions to pull off, so you can bet those ships making use of it are paying handsomely.
I recently went from the Balboa dock through two sets of locks to the Pacific on a packed tourist boat. My local in-the-know guide who updated me in said there are fees on top of that though—kind of like your airline ticket these days—so here are the total amounts he quoted.
Or cocaine. Supposedly someone tried that once. More info here. That includes entrance to the museum and a guide explaining how everything works at regular intervals outside. The place must be raking in money because when I last visited there were hundreds of people streaming in and out at all times. Later when we passed in a ship there was still no space along the observation deck railings for the people looking out at us. If you ask me, a couple days in Panama City is plenty and there are far more interesting places to go within a few hours.
So have some fun here then get out into the countryside or to the beaches. See the Visit Panama site for ideas and gorgeous photos. How much money are they saving by using the Panama Canal versus traveling around South America.? Thank for the article. I think most companies have made that calculation and it's cheaper to use the canal. Not to mention the speed to market difference.
Very interesting to do so.
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