A hypothetical wartime attack exposes the different vulnerabilities of the two canals. Panama depends on lock gates and surrounding land installations, so damage to that system could disable the route for a prolonged period. Suez has no comparable locks, leaving obstruction by a sunken ship as the more obvious temporary danger. Canals serving the same strategic purpose can fail in very different ways because their physical designs differ.
Notable Point · 2:34:53-2:36:19
Why Panama’s Locks Create a Different Vulnerability
A hypothetical attack comparison shows how Panama’s lock machinery creates a different failure mode from the lock-free channel at Suez.