Panama Canal Facts & Curiosities

Numbers That Astonish

Total length: 82 kilometers (51 miles) from ocean to ocean.
Fastest transit: The U.S. Navy hydrofoil Pegasus completed the transit in 2 hours and 41 minutes in 1979.
Slowest transit: During maintenance work, some transits can take up to 30 hours.
Highest toll ever paid: Over $1.2 million by a Neopanamax container vessel in 2024.
Lowest toll: $0.36 paid by Richard Halliburton, who swam the Canal in 1928 — the only human being ever to do so. It took him 10 days, swimming a total of 50 hours across 10 stages.
Daily vessels: Between 35 and 40 ships transit the Canal each day.
Workers lost during construction: Approximately 5,600 during the American era (1904–1914), plus an estimated 22,000 during the French attempt (1881–1889).
Volume of excavated earth: Over 200 million cubic meters — enough to build a replica of the Great Wall of China from San Francisco to New York.
Concrete used: More than 3.4 million cubic meters in the original locks alone.

The millionth vessel: The bulk carrier Fortune Plum made the one-millionth transit on September 4, 2010.
First transit: The steamship Ancón, on August 15, 1914.
New Millennium transit: Exactly at noon on December 31, 1999 — while the world celebrated the new millennium — the vessel Universe Explorer made the symbolic transit marking the Canal's transfer to Panama.
Most expensive canal ever built: At a cost of $375 million in 1914 (equivalent to over $10 billion today, adjusted for inflation).
Distance savings: A ship traveling from New York to San Francisco saves approximately 14,000 kilometers (9,000 miles) using the Canal instead of rounding Cape Horn.

Ships pay by weight, not time: Tolls are calculated based on the vessel's net tonnage (carrying capacity), not transit duration.
The Canal operates on fresh water, not salt water: This is a critical difference from the Suez Canal. All water comes from rainfall captured in the Canal watershed. This is why dry seasons pose operational challenges.
"Mules" are not animals: The electric locomotives that guide ships through the locks are called "mules" in honor of the animals that originally pulled barges along towpaths.
Confusing direction: Due to the isthmus's orientation (east-west), a ship traveling from the Pacific to the Atlantic actually sails NORTHWEST. The sun rises over the Pacific and sets over the Atlantic in Panama.
Bridge of the Americas: Opened in 1962, it was the only bridge connecting the two halves of the American continent until the Centennial Bridge was built in 2004.
Submarines in the Canal: U.S. nuclear submarines transit the Canal regularly, but always at night and under strict security measures.
Biodiversity: The Canal watershed is home to over 2,500 plant species, 500 bird species, and 100 mammal species — it is as important a biological corridor as it is a maritime route.