The Panama Canal is approximately 80 km long and was created to shorten the transit time of ships going from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
The canal achieves this by using a system of locks that raises and lowers the ships between the two oceans, making it possible for around 13-14,000 vessels to transit the canal annually, connecting 144 maritime routes and 160 countries and reaching some 1,700 ports in the world.
The shipping lines using this canal have to pay the Panama Canal Authority, which levies part of that cost to the customer as a Panama Transit Fee or Panama Canal Surcharge.
