Want this question answered?
Before air travel, the Panama Canal was the shortcut from New York City to San Francisco. Today it is still a shortcut if you are traveling by water.
The Panama canal
You would transit the Panama Canal going South.
A boat traveling from the Pacific to the Atlantic via the Panama Canal would be traveling northwest. Although the Pacific Ocean is west of the Atlantic Ocean in Central America, at Panama the Caribbean Sea arm of the Atlantic is to the north, and the Pacific to the south. Canal builders took advantage of natural lakes and valleys, so the actual orientation of the canal is NW to SE. (see linked map) Going from the Atlantic (Caribbean Sea) to the Pacific, ships travel to the southeast.
newyork to sanfrancisco on the panama canal
Before the Panama Canal, a ship would need to travel all the way south to the southern tip of Chile in South America and then north to New York City. See the related link for a picture.
The Panama canal, as its name suggests is in Panama. The direction of travel on the canal is NW to SE.
Ships traveling from Japan to the United Kingdom will travel east and cross Central America at the Panama Canal. Then they will head northeast to get to the United Kingdom.
The Panama Canal allows ships to pass through south America to Central America or vice versa.
By boat
the Panama Canal
It would be 18,000miles shorter. If using Panama Canal.