The Panama Canal Makes Ships Climb 85 Feet — With No Pumps

This summer, a ship paid a record $5.3 million just to skip the line at the Panama Canal. Part of the reason is a war far away. The other part is rain. The Panama Canal lifts giant ships 85 feet into the air, carries them across a mountain range, and lowers them back to the sea, with no pumps. In this video we break down how the locks work, why the French failed and about 20,000 workers died, how the Americans beat yellow fever, the Culebra Cut, the 2016 expansion, and why droughts now limit how many ships can cross. In this video: 0:00 A $5.3 million ticket 0:51 Two oceans, 50 miles apart 1:33 The French attempt 2:36 Yellow fever and malaria 3:19 The Americans take over 4:11 Stevens stops the digging 4:53 A staircase made of water 6:11 The Culebra Cut 7:35 The workers 8:13 How the locks work 10:42 Northwest to southeast 11:19 52 million gallons per ship 11:39 Opening day, 1914 12:29 The 36-cent toll 12:48 Panama takes control 13:08 The 2016 expansion 13:50 A canal that runs on rain Sources: Wikipedia: Panama Canal; Panama Canal locks Panama Canal Authority (pancanal.com): Design of the locks History.com: Panama Canal construction dangers Guinness World Records: Lowest toll for the Panama Canal University of South Florida map archive: sailing distances via Panama and Cape Horn Marine Insight (Aug 21, 2026): El Niño daily vessel limits South China Morning Post: record $5.3 million Panama Canal auction bid Illustrations in this video are AI-generated artistic reconstructions, not historical photographs. Maps and diagrams are simplified and not to scale. Figures are approximate.