Stop 1 · Panama
Panama City
Ships pass through Miraflores locks within sight of downtown. Around 14,000 vessels a year make the transit, each lifted 26 m over the continental divide.
Cities built around a great ship canal
Five places whose fortunes were made — or in one case unmade — by an artificial waterway cut for ocean-going vessels.
The five stops
Stop 2 · Egypt
Port Said
The northern gateway of the Suez Canal, and a free port. Around 12% of world trade passes the end of its main street.
Stop 3 · Greece
Corinth
The canal is too narrow for modern freight and now carries mostly tourist boats — a spectacular engineering achievement that arrived a few decades too late.
Stop 4 · Germany
Kiel
The Nord-Ostsee-Kanal carries more vessels each year than the Suez and Panama canals combined, linking the North Sea to the Baltic in 98 km.
Stop 5 · United Kingdom
Manchester
The ship canal made an inland city the country's third-busiest port. Ocean vessels no longer come this far up, but the container terminal downstream still runs.
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