The Panama Canal is located between Pacific (bottom) and Caribbean (top), with canal at top center .It was constructed in 1904 and finished 1914 is a 77 km (48 mi) ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade Among the advantages of this canal are, the Panama canal is much more than a canal! Geographically situated at the crossroads of the world, and strong of its experience as the largest and one of the oldest registries, Panama offers a complete business infrastructure The other benefits when the ship MV Lotus follows this route from Manila to New York is that there no traffic jams, as traffic is controlled at the locks.
And also it more efficiency for example the average time it takes for MV Lotus to navigate the canal, including waiting time, is a key measure of efficiency as it oscillate between 20 and 30 hours which is longer to other canals. It’s much easy for MV Lotus to land the U.S. east coat via this canal (Parker, 96-134).
The costs of passing through this canal are higher compared to other canal due to the expensive construction of water locks that together with the dams support water to this canal. And therefore it’s much cheaper to pass through the Suez Canal from manila to New York than it is on this canal. Then the fuel consumption between the two destination makes the costs of the voyage very expensive .There is also the payment of a moderate annual fee calculated on the basis of their tonnage. The Consulate is specifically appointed to collect those fees and is entitled to issue official receipts instantaneously, to avoid any administrative delay.
This Increases the cost of the voyage it’s much risky to pass this route due to the increase in the number of pirates and insecurity that has existed on this route. A lot of vessels and ships would rather pass the Suez canal than risk accidents and piracy which has made the cost expensive in the long run The benefits Cape of Good Hope is thatthere no traffic jams on this route because of its connectivity .And therefore even though longer there are few cases of accidents on this route. Unlike the Panama Canal this canal can handle a little bigger size of vessel (Mellander, 143-67).