Watch a large cruise ship pass through the world’s deepest canal in a thrilling way

Large cruise ships pass through the Corinth Canal in Greece

The Corinth Canal in Greece is the deepest man-made waterway in the world. Its narrow channel is lined with steep rock walls, and when a large modern cruise ship passes through it, it requires a high level of navigation skills to pass safely, which can be a thrilling process.

The 6.3 km long Corinth Canal was opened in 1893. It runs through the Greek isthmus of Corinth, separating the Peloponnisos from the Greek mainland and turning it into a virtual island.

The Corinth Canal was built to create a passage between the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea and the Gulf of Corinth in the Ionian Sea, saving ships the Time and cost of sailing around the Peloponnese.

The Corinth Canal connects the Gulf of Serone to the Gulf of Corinth, separating the Peloponnese from mainland Greece.

In order to cut this canal in the narrowest part of the Isthmus of Corinth, engineers had to cut into a rock formation 84 meters deep, eventually making the canal up to 8 meters deep and 24 meters wide, enough for all kinds of ships to pass in the past.

But as time progressed and the size and speed of ships increased, the Corinth Canal has now lost the significance it had when it was built, as the number of ships that can pass through it is limited, and the time and cost to travel around the Peloponnese is not as much as it once was.

However, despite its dramatic reduction in economic importance, the Corinthian Canal is still currently used by some 11,000 ships per year, most of which are ferries and tourist boats.

The National Geographic Channel recently aired a film of a large cruise ship passing through the Corinth Canal. The 195-meter-long, 24,000-ton ship is the largest vessel ever to pass through the canal.

The aerial view of the cruise ship’s passage through the canal shows clearly the difficulty of the process. At the narrowest point, the distance between the two sides of the ship and the rock wall is less than 1 meter. Without excellent navigation, a boat of this size could easily have an accident.