40% of the stuff you and I buy comes through the Panama Canal, and due to the drought that they are having over there, ships are stuck in that winter slump. Just in July, it was taking 5.5 to 6.5 days for a ship to transit through the canal, whether it was northbound or southbound. Now, it s taking 18 to 21 days.
00:00:34.660Just in July was taking five and a half days to six and a half days for ships to transit through, whether it's the northbound or the southbound transit.
00:00:41.960That five and a half to six and a half days is now 18 to 21 days.
00:02:51.660Without it, it gets violent at the bottom when they're going through.
00:02:55.440So obviously, when you look at that number, it's kind of like, imagine you're trying to go home, and the main freeway's closed.
00:02:59.660Okay, where typically you're going home, it takes you 20 minutes to go, then it'll let you say 5 miles, and it costs you 10 bucks for gas prices.
00:03:05.760Now, if the freeway's closed, you have to go all the way this way, go all the way around.
00:03:39.420Again, conditions calm with it, violent without it.
00:03:43.140So obviously, it doesn't take a mad genius to say, I would much rather go through Panama Canal because it's going to be the most effective way.
00:03:48.540Now, to understand the importance of Panama Canal, how political of a project this was, how many people's lives and businesses' lives had changed, we have to go back and study the history of the Panama Canal.
00:03:59.920The idea of a canal across the Isthmus of Panama was proposed in the early 16th century.
00:04:04.120However, it wasn't until 1880 that a French company began construction on a canal and the project was abandoned due to engineering challenge and financial problems.
00:04:12.500In 1904, the U.S. took over the project and completed it in 10 years in 1914.
00:04:17.060The canal was a major engineering feat and it revolutionized global trade.
00:04:22.060The canal was also a major strategic asset for the United States during World War II.
00:04:26.260It allowed the U.S. to rapidly deploy ships and troops between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
00:04:31.460In 1977, the U.S. and Panama signed the Torrios-Carter Treaties, which transferred control of the canal to Panama in 1999.
00:04:39.580Now, you and I, we're just watching this video or living our lives.
00:04:42.320We don't know what it took to build a canal.
00:04:44.140We just kind of sit there and say, what's the big deal?
00:04:45.620It's just a canal. It's not like it's that complicated of a project.
00:04:48.300Do you know how many people died building a canal?
00:04:50.22022,000 people died during the French construction efforts.
00:04:54.660And an additional 5,609 people died during the American construction for a total of 27,609 people died building the Panama Canal.
00:05:05.740So you may ask, what did they die from?
00:05:07.720One, the explosive for the way you have to do to build a canal.
00:05:36.020So the Panama Canal allows ships to transit between Atlantic and Pacific Ocean without having to navigate the violent waters around the southern tip of South America.
00:05:43.680So one of the coolest things is while you're there, they have a nice hotel, the Hard Rock Cafe.
00:05:47.360They have a Hard Rock Hotel there right next to Roberto Duran's restaurant.
00:05:51.040And they'll say, hey, it's the only place in the world where you can go have breakfast at the Atlantic and have lunch at the Pacific.
00:07:54.820Number one is cars, plastic, construction machinery, car parts, cotton, scrap metal, nuts, pork, wood pulp, lab equipment.
00:08:03.360And if you look at it by weight, number one is scrap paper, scrap metal, wood pulp, plastic, hay, fresh paper, cotton, sugar, soybeans, chicken.
00:08:11.520This is catastrophic if this goes from taking five and a half days to six and a half days to 18 to 21 days.
00:08:18.880So by the way, you may be saying, Pat, I got 17 different problems I'm dealing with right now.
00:08:21.800You want me to be thinking about the Panama Canal.