On the Atlantic (Caribbean) side, the Gatun Locks (3 chambers) lift a ship to Gatun Lake (~26 m / 85 ft above sea level). The ship then crosses the lake and the Culebra Cut, and on the Pacific side the Pedro Miguel Locks (1 chamber) and the Miraflores Locks (2 chambers) lower it back to sea level. Use the buttons below to walk through it step by step.
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Atlantic (Caribbean) side
Pacific side
Route (Atlantic → Pacific)
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Facts (verifiable from sources)
A lock-type canal: a ship enters a chamber, and the water level is raised or lowered to carry it across a lake higher than the sea.
On the Atlantic side, the Gatun Locks have 3 chambers and lift the ship up to Gatun Lake (about 26 m / 85 ft above sea level).
On the Pacific side, the descent is split in two: the Pedro Miguel Locks (1 chamber) drop the ship to Miraflores Lake (about 16 m above sea level), and the Miraflores Locks (2 chambers) bring it back down to sea level.
Between Gatun Lake and the Miraflores Locks, the route passes through the Culebra Cut (Gaillard Cut), cut through the continental divide.
All filling and emptying of the chambers is done by gravity; no pumps are used. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) states this explicitly.
The original chambers are 33.53 m wide and about 305 m long. The 2016 expansion added the Agua Clara Locks (Atlantic side) and Cocoli Locks (Pacific side), each with 3 chambers and water-saving basins.
A note on modelling: place names, the number of chambers and the order of the route follow the actual layout. The relative heights of each step, the length of each waterway, the chamber dimensions and the transit times have been simplified or approximated for clarity. For exact figures, see the Panama Canal Authority (ACP, pancanal.com) and other primary sources.