The World's Shortcut: How the Panama Canal Works

Animation by Josh Sherrington
Thumbnail by Simon Buckmaster

Special thanks to Patreon supporters Adam Chelminski, Arkadiy Kulev, Charles Zilinski, Chris Allen, Connor J Smith, Daddy Donald, Etienne Dechamps, Eyal Matsliah, Hank Green, John & Becki Johnston, Kyle, MyNameIsKir, Plinio Correa, Qui Le, Remi_Scarlet, Tom Dooner, Tyler Hamm, and Vaughn Mudrick

Select footage courtesy the AP Archive

References:

[starwarsguyful]

As a Panamanian its really refreshing to see a video about the canal thats NOT about its history but rather about its modern impact on the world. Didn’t think i’d see it on this channel tho 😂

[luis_zuniga]

Now we need a part 2 talking about the Suez Canal

[brianbalio]

As a Merchant Mariner who passes the Panama Canal regularly, this is the most well explained and detailed video about the waterway for the non-mariners who wants to know more about this topic. Good job making this video! I approve!

[The_Horizon]

Dang the suez canal sure seems handy, it would be a shame if it was blocked...

[kanyda]

Man imagine if one of the world's major shortcuts was blocked!

[ihavetowaitdaystochangem]

Theodore Roosevelt: *To show you the power of big stick deplomacy*
*I cut panama in Half!!*

[justfunyay]

A Wendover Productions video that isn't about planes

Everyone: *confused screaming*

[samizdat_]

But what about the PLANES that fly over Panama?

[w]

Whoa, pretty nonchalantly slipped in 5, 600 worker fatalities there.

[bjornarmar]

Literally every single video:

“Here’s a bunch of really interesting and engaging information about stuff you’ve probably never thought about.

“Also global warming.”

[PlamenDrop]

Panama has great lobbyists to help them have leverage over the Suez Canal. They're all in Somalia.

[loveFrAd]

It's crazy how one relatively small body of water has influence over the entire world economy...

[tommyhill]

I don't know which fact was more surprising, 5600 worker deaths or the possibility of a million dollar transit fee.

[darthgamer]

I’m from Panama and liked the detail of making the flag of my country for the thumbnail using cargo containers, thanks a lot for talking about the Panama Canal 🇵🇦

[TheGreatCooLite]

So that's what's taking my package so long to arrive

[jakepitts]

I went through the canal in 2017 as a line handler on a small yacht. Small boat traffic has to go through at night when the commercial traffic is lighter. A group of yacths meet outside the canal to 'raft up' - tying the boats together for the canal passage. Canal staff throw down monkey balls with lines attached once you are inside the canal. These are wrapped around cleats and four line handlers on each corner of the boat either take in or release the lines to keep the raft in the center when the lock is operated. Otherwise, some boats end up capsizing within the lock when they hit the side. We moored in Lake Gatun for the rest of the night and woke up early when the pilot came on board to navigate through the lake over to the Pacific side. I have lots of pictures of our little boat passing huge Panamax ships. It's a fantastic experience if you ever get the chance to watch the doors close and the water start to bubble all around you.

[yajjhajhria]

OverSimplified: Makes a video not about a war


Wendover : Makes a video not about planes


*The world has gone insane*

[ARSZLB]

i can’t imagine how fascinating it must be for a shipworker’s first few times sailing quite literally almost all the way around the entire planet…one thing that’s always been on my bucket list is take one of those journeys one day. in case some of you reading this weren’t aware, there actually are numerous container ships that will take on 10 or so passengers upon booking/payment because the vast majority of those ships have a few private cabins just in case they need to sail with a few more people than expected, and it’s surprisingly INSANELY cheap, especially when compared to the cost of circumnavigating the entire globe via commercial air travel.

[TuNguyen-trqe]

Hello,

I really appreciate your effort on making these videos, they are very informative. However, I'd like to make a small suggestion: please could you speak out details instead of using "this" or "that". I'm visually impaired so I have very little idea of what you are showing on the screen. Verbally providing all the numbers and figures explicit would make it much easier for me to understand your contents.

[Siddeo]

It's a marvel that such huge projects were built in an age when there were no computers to assist modeling and manage logistics