CRUISE Cruising the Panama Canal
he Panama Canal cruise remains one of the most popular cruises and one of the most sought destinations in Central America and the Caribbean with stops featured at Panama’s ports. However, most tourists visiting Panama want to have the experience of a short cruise in the waterway, even a partial or full transit that will only take a few hours or maximum a day.
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Several travel agencies offer these kinds of transits on small ships, ferries or yachts. This is the most enjoyable approach to see the operations of the locks, navigate the waters of Gatun Lake and witness first hand the works for the expansion of the Panama Canal. Tours begin generally early morning, at 7am for a full day transit or 9am for partial transit, starting from Panama City’s Flamenco Island at Amador causeway or from Colon, or from Gamboa in the Canal area, for the short trips. Most of the times, a full transit will originate in Colon and take the visitor along the 80km-waterway, transiting the three locks from the Atlantic side to the Pacific side while the partial transit will begin on the Pacific side, transiting the Pedro Miguel locks and Miraflores
duty free commercial mall, attracting several other cruise lines transiting the Panama Canal. The Panamanian-owned Colon 2000 has built an exclusive 200mtr pier for RCCL that has capacity to dock vessels of up to 160,000dwt and since December 2008 has become ‘the first homeport in Latin America for large vessels,’ says gm Augusto Terracina. On the Pacific side, Fort Amador Resort and Marina (FARM), also receives cruise vessels calls with jetty service. The marina is also home to privately owned yachts which are now part of scenery offered to tourists and vacationers coming to enjoy the variety of
locks and return to the embankment, in a four-hour trip. Transportation by bus is provided by the travel agencies to Colon, on the Atlantic side, from where the full transit will begin at Gatun three-level- locks to later enter Gatun Lake. The crossing of the lake
will take at least two or three hours, sailing along container vessels and large Panamaxes.
While cruising the lake where isolated 100-year-old trees emerge from the waters, last witnesses of the construction of the Canal, the ship will pass nearby Barro Colorado Island, a Smithsonian research station where troops of monkeys can often be watched, and slowly enters the 13.7km- long Gaillard Cut which is the narrowest part of the channel carved into the continental Divide. The Cut is being dredged constantly to keep the navigational channel clear.
restaurants at Fort Amador. Panama’s government recently announced that it will promote the construction of a cruise terminal in the Fort Amador area.
Although no timetable has been set, the AMP has commissioned feasibility studies for the cruise terminal, a decision that has been applauded by shipping agents and tour operators since there are no terminal facilities on the Pacific side. ‘The government seems serious about the cruise terminal, possibly in tandem with a new convention centre, so it seems likely to happen,’ comments David Taylor Latin
Before reaching the Pedro Miguel Locks at the southern end of the Cut, the new Centennial Bridge crosses over the Canal and then comes Pedro Miguel Locks, one of the two sets of locks on the Pacific side, where the vessel is lowered nine metres in one step ahead of the Miraflores Lake, a small artificial body of fresh water that separates Pedro Miguel from Miraflores Locks, where the ship is lowered 18mtr in two distinct steps, and the transit completed. The ship then, passes under the Bridge of the Americas to finish its full transit of the Panama Canal at Amador Causeway embankment.
America gm of Moffatt & Nichol, a leading US-based global infrastructure advisor specialising in planning and design of ports round the world. Meanwhile, the new PSA Panama International Terminal that is positioned at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal channel on the western bank, has now begun operations and could be an alternative for cruise vessels calling Panama City. Port officials say having received several shipping agents’ queries for available berthing during the cruise season. ‘Much will depend on how the docking movements will be performed at the location,’ says Holmes. •
Waiting to enter the Canal PANAMA MARITIME REVIEW 2011/12 93
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