{"id":3034,"date":"2021-08-31T19:30:57","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T17:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/?p=3034"},"modified":"2022-03-17T16:25:26","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T15:25:26","slug":"the-panama-canal-ferry-transportation-that-changed-the-way-we-moved-in-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/2021\/08\/31\/the-panama-canal-ferry-transportation-that-changed-the-way-we-moved-in-the-country\/","title":{"rendered":"The Panama Canal Ferry, Transportation that Changed the Way We Moved in the Country"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today, driving across the Panama Canal with three\nbridges available, two in the Pacific and one in the Atlantic, not counting a\nfourth bridge to be built and line 3 of the Metro system, it is difficult to\nthink that decades ago it was different. Before the Bridge of the Americas and\nthe Centennial in the Panamanian Pacific sector, the only way to cross from one\nside of the canal to the other was through the ferry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During the Construction of the Canal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the years of the construction of the Canal, the\npassage to the interior sector was carried out by land either by car or bus,\nand then when the interoceanic\nroute was opened, tugboats and barges were used to transport people and their\nvehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the Road<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first years of Republican life, the\nInter-American Highway did not exist, so the fastest way to go from Panama City\nto the interior was by means of steam boats offered by the National Navigation\nCompany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years,\nthe Panamanian population grew, so it was necessary to improve national\ntransportation. At this time, the then-former president Belisario Porras\nmanaged the construction of the national highway, a modern road that ran from\nthe province of Chiriqui\nto Panama City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Age of Ferries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the completion of the National Highway, it was\nnecessary to implement a more agile system to transport people and their\nvehicles from one side. For this reason, in August 1931 the first two ferrys\ncalled President Porras\nand President Roosevelt\nbegan to be used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These transportation boats were built by the Panama\nCanal Mechanical Division company. Ferrys required to be of large capacity to\ntransport as many people as possible. In the case of the President Porras\nferry, it had a capacity to transport 500 passengers and 50 cars and its length\nwas 155 feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At first, the crossings were made around the Pedro\nMiguel locks, but on September 1, 1932 it was moved to the Balboa area, where\ntoday the Bridge of the Americas is located. The approximate time to cross the\ncanal was approximately one hour. What forced everyone to plan their trip very\nwell to reach their destinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferry 24\/7<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 At the\nbeginning, this transport system operated from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm, but the\ndemand for passengers was growing, which forced the extension of the service 24\nhours from July 1935. In 1942 they had to increase the fleet to improve service\nefficiency. However, during the 1950s, their use became so attractive to locals\nand foreigners that some were used for sightseeing tours through the locks and\nthe Culebra Cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Ferry for the History<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the opening of the Bridge of the Americas, people\nhad quick and direct access to the interior of the Republic of Panama. On\nOctober 12, 1962, this transport went down in history and each boat was\nauctioned at $ 39,000.00 by the Simon Canarte Company, from New Orleans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the details that has remained in the memory of\nthose who used the ferry was that it was 100% free and the punctuality with\nwhich the United States administered it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, driving across the Panama Canal with three bridges available, two in the Pacific and one in the Atlantic, not counting a fourth bridge to be built and line 3 of the Metro system, it is difficult to think that decades ago it was different. Before the Bridge of the Americas and the Centennial in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3034"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3034"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3589,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3034\/revisions\/3589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevisitorpanama.info\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}