The Panama Canal has an approximate of 80 kilometer of length between the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean. This waterway was dredged through the most thin stretches of land of the Panamanian Isthmus that unites North and South America.
The Panama canal uses a type of Locks comprised of entry and departure doors . The water locks function as water elevators : they raise or lower the vessel depending on which direction the vessel is bound, towards the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean, to obtain cruise leverage with the Gatun lake to 26 meters from ocean level or to obtain leverage in any of both oceans to depart and continue the journey.
Each set of locks have a name with reference to the location where they were built. GATUN to the Atlantic side, Pedro Miguel Locks and Miraflores are both located in the Pacific side of the Panama canal.
Each chamber locks has a size of 33.53 meters of width by 308.80 meters of length. The maximum width of a vessel that may transit the canal is of 32.3, 12mt of depth, and 2941 of length depending on the type of vessel.
The water that is used to lower and elevate the vessel comes from Gatun lake, and its flow depends on gravity, enters trough water intakes which are located along the locks sides surrounding the chambers
The most narrow part of the waterway is the Culebra Cut , which extends from the north bound of the Pedro Miguel Locks till the south border of the Gatun lake at Gamboa
Vessels from all parts of the world journey through the canal, some 13 to 14 thousand vessels use the canal yearly , provided the Panama Canal connects 160 countries and are related to 1,700 ports worldwide.
