\n<\/p>\n
Hanging from a ladder attached to the hull of a giant, bobbing tanker, Capt. Efra\u00edn Hallax began his climb up to the crew awaiting him atop the Athina, a ship anchored in Panama Bay and third in line to transit the Panama Canal.<\/p>\n
The daunting ascent up the shifting ship was nothing new for Captain Hallax, 73. He has been a ship\u2019s pilot in the Panama Canal for over 40 years, responsible for guiding vessels through the trade-critical corridor that connects the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea.<\/p>\n
On this night in February, Captain Hallax reported for work a half-hour before midnight \u2014 and just a few hours after President Trump had canceled a call with President Jos\u00e9 Ra\u00fal Mulino of Panama to continue their negotiations over the future of the canal, which the U.S. president wants returned to American control.<\/p>\n
The overnight crossing was nothing out of the ordinary for the captain. With about 3 percent of the world\u2019s maritime trade carried through its locks, the Panama Canal is a 24-hour operation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cBusiness as usual,\u201d said Captain Hallax. \u201cAlways business as usual in the Panama Canal, no matter Christmas, no matter rain, no matter fog, no matter nothing, no matter Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
As he took his first sip of the night\u2019s many coffees, Captain Hallax said alertness was a pilot\u2019s essential ally, and he counts on the caffeine \u2014 plus ice over his eyes \u2014 to help keep him awake. \u201cYou see nothing at this time, just little lights,\u201d he said. \u201cBlinking can cost you your life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Captain Hallax is one of 310 pilots \u2014 six are women \u2014 authorized by the Authority of the Panama Canal to steer a ship through the waterway. These pilots are the only ones allowed to make the 50-mile transit, with the ship\u2019s captain required to cede control for the complex journey through the isthmus passage.<\/p>\n
Informed by the marine traffic control tower about the night\u2019s traffic, he knew what to expect: which ship to follow and what restrictions were in place. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit like chess, a constant calculation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The Athina is small enough to fit through the three sets of locks, named Miraflores, Pedro Miguel and Gatun, which were built by the American government and have been operating since the canal opened in 1914. (In 2006, wider locks for bigger ships were opened.) In good weather, the transit takes about 10 hours.<\/p>\n
About 40 ships can make the journey daily, and the more ships that cross, the more money Panama makes. And it\u2019s a lot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Always profitable, the canal \u201cis a cash cow for the country,\u201d Captain Hallax said. In 2024, it contributed $2.4 billion to government coffers.<\/p>\n
The canal is narrow and crowded, and job No. 1 for the pilots is using their expert local knowledge to make sure the ships they are helming don\u2019t hit the sides, or another vessel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThey are highly specialized drivers,\u201d said John Feeley, a former United States ambassador to Panama, \u201ctrained to move the biggest moving structures on Planet Earth, like watching a horizontal skyscraper move.\u201d<\/p>\n
As was made clear by the global trade bottleneck created when a container ship got stuck<\/a> in the Suez Canal,<\/a> a mistake made in a canal\u2019s constricted waterway can have consequences felt around the world.<\/p>\n Captain Hallax was told the Miraflores locks were available at 2:30 a.m., so as soon as he arrived on deck, he took command of the ship. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSometimes there is friction with some of the captains,\u201d he said of the power transfer. \u201cIt\u2019s like asking someone for his wife.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Steering from inside the bridge on a foggy night or during a downpour can get especially difficult, and dangerous. \u201cI sometimes cannot see my nose,\u201d Captain Hallax said. But tonight\u2019s crossing would at least start out easy. \u201cSea is calm now,\u201d Captain Hallax said as he surveyed the water around him, \u201cbut this time of the year the winds can be tricky out there.\u201d<\/p>\n While tankers like the Athina are common assignments, the range of ships he pilots is wide. \u201cAnything that floats,\u201d he said, including military vessels. \u201cU.S. submarines pop up often, he said.<\/p>\n Raised in a semirural neighborhood on the outskirts of Panama City, Captain Hallax said that from a young age he had always wanted to see what the outside world looked like.<\/p>\n Both his father and stepfather were seamen, \u201cso that was an influence,\u201d he said. But it was the advice he received at a young age from an American canal pilot who was a family friend that really stuck. \u201cIf you want a future in this country,\u201d the American pilot told him, \u201cfind yourself a job in the Panama Canal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n At the time, that dream was out of reach. The U.S. Canal Zone was a mostly forbidden fantasy land \u2014 except for a once-a-month visit with an aunt to visit her friend in the Zone. To the boy living at times without water and electricity, \u201ceverything was perfect in the Zone,\u201d he recalled. \u201cThe streets, the trees, the mangoes. The lightbulbs worked. The buses ran.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n When he reached adulthood, the Canal Zone was still shut to Panamanians. \u201cIt was impossible to go knock on the door of a maritime agency, he said. \u201cThey were all inside the Zone.\u201d<\/p>\n Thanks to a scholarship, Captain Hallax attended the Arturo Prat Naval Academy in Chile, and his peripatetic sea career began. But the jobs open to a Panamanian weren\u2019t the best: \u201cFrom lousy tramp steamer to lousy tramp steamer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He picked up additional maritime training wherever he could, from New York to Italy. Some ships on which he served crossed the Panama Canal. \u201cI felt like I was in another country, not my own,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In 1977, when the globe-sailing Captain Hallax was in his mid-20s, Panama signed the treaty with the United States that would give it full control of the canal in 20 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Knowing it needed to fill a huge void of trained pilots, Panama\u2019s government put out an open call for all Panamanian seamen with a first officer license and at least eight years of navigation experience. At the time, Captain Hallax was working on a cruise ship in Oregon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n He applied immediately, and in 1983, he became one of the nine Panamanians who made up the first batch of pilots hired to start replacing the Americans.<\/p>\n Today, the pilots come from varied backgrounds, but share one thing. \u201cThey are exquisitely paid,\u201d said Mr. Feeley, the ex-ambassador.<\/p>\n Pilots make about $350,000 a year \u2014 and double that if they\u2019re willing to forego a normal life and work all the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n But Captain Hallax opted not to spend every hour at sea. A single man until he was 62, his other jobs included owning three bars, two named after pirates. <\/span><\/p>\n The most difficult moment of his canal-crossing career is one he has rarely talked about since: He once stopped a ship on purpose, in protest.<\/p>\n During the final days of the dictatorship of Gen. Manuel Noriega, who ruled Panama from 1983 to 1989, Captain Hallax one day on his way to work saw \u201ca bunch of policemen beat up women indiscriminately.\u201d<\/p>\n A few hours later, as he piloted a Turkish boat through the Pedro Miguel locks, \u201ctears rolling down my face from rage,\u201d he dropped the ship\u2019s anchor at the narrow entry to Gatun Lake and took to the ship\u2019s radio to announce his protest against Noriega. <\/p>\n The stoppage \u2014 \u201cthe dumbest thing I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d he said \u2014 lasted 15 minutes.<\/p>\n He was fired, and with Noriega\u2019s goons looking for him, he went into hiding. But just two weeks later, President George H.W. Bush ordered an invasion of Panama. The canal was closed for a week, and Noriega was soon arrested.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Captain Hallax\u2019s lawyer argued that his action should be considered heroic resistance, not insubordination, and weeks after \u201cthat stupidity,\u201d he said, he was rehired. <\/p>\n The night\u2019s crossing of the Athina went off without a hitch, and Captain Hallax arrived home the next morning. \u201cSleepy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He plans to keep piloting another two years, then retire to see more of the world \u2014 this time on foot. \u201cI\u2019ve discovered I like to walk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Whatever becomes of Mr. Trump\u2019s Canal interest, Captain Hallax doesn\u2019t expect much to change for pilots.<\/p>\n The sea, the wind, the fear, the exhaustion and the bad shipboard food will remain.<\/p>\n \u201cPolitics,\u201d he said, \u201cwon\u2019t change these things.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n