Enlargement of the Panama Canal
Enlargement of the Panama Canal
(OP)
Good news for civil engineering the announcement government Bill that promotes the enlargement of the Panama Canal. A project cost, of about 5 billion euros.
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Enlargement of the Panama Canal
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Enlargement of the Panama CanalEnlargement of the Panama Canal(OP)
Good news for civil engineering the announcement government Bill that promotes the enlargement of the Panama Canal. A project cost, of about 5 billion euros. Red Flag SubmittedThank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts. Reply To This ThreadPosting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members! |
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RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
Looks pretty interesting.
They way they've minimized water usage is cool, it's not original, they copied it from elsewhere but interesting none the less.
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!
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RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
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RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
If this works out, maybe they'll reduce my taxes!
Cheers,
CanuckMiner
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
Apparantly SUEZ had an upgrade a while back and it seems like they're just trying to catch up.
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
If I understand and recal correctly it's more the fact that the need to be able to fit through Suez limited the size of some ships, Panama could handle larger ones. There were/are size classes called 'Suez Max' and 'Pana Max', with Suez Max being smaller
Since the upgrade I believe the Suez can handle larger ships so 'Pana Max' is effectively the lower limit now.
Ships are growing larger regardles and just not going through the canal.
So to solve the current problem of more traffic than it can handle and to prevent possible future loss in traffic if ships just get too big, they are expanding the canal.
Apparantly the US had started this years ago when it was still in control but it wasn't completed, they are actually planning to make use of some the diggings the US started.
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
A star for you: back to global warming within 3 postings! Great job
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
The fact that global warming will make the NorthWest Passage available for free in say 30 years requires that the investment ($) in the Panana Canal must be done NOW! so the money can be recooped before the canal becomes
redundant.
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
Also it would probably re-open the canal to major units of the US Navy, one of the main reasons it was origninally built.
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
"Panamanian citizens approved it in a national referendum by 76.8% of votes on October 22, 2006."
-- http://en
The Panama Canal expansion is supported by such diverse interests as China, the US & Venezuela. Rail & truck links to US Pacific ports are pretty maxed out, further port expansion space is limited (at LA/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle) and it's more efficient to move cargo by ship.
In addition to numerous economic reasons, China has political reasons for improved access to the Caribbean (greater economic leverage to win over the nations still recognizing Taiwan as Republic of China):
http://
The most recently traversed Northwest Passage route is somewhat of a Canadian IntraCoastal Waterway. "The Canadian military refers to the sea route exclusively as the Canadian Internal Waters." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Passage
It will be considered a twisted, inconvenient route by 2025-2030 when a more northerly, deepwater Canadian route will be open, and forgotten by 2050 when the Arctic Ocean will be open perhaps year round.
NASA photos of the Artic from 1979 (top) and 2003:
Higher resolution photos are available:
http:/
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
Also the enlargement if I recall correctly is basically the building of new locks, and improvements to largely pre-existing channels. While a major undertaking, in real terms it's probably not as big as the original construction. Plus I seem to recall many of the techniques/much of the equipment used to build the original canal was in its infancy or had to be developed specifically for the canal at the time. Now I believe all the required technology etc exists and is fairly mature, so I'd expect the risk is somewhat lower.
Plus I wonder what the cost of the improvements that would be needed to docks, transport routes, pipelines etc to allow transport by land would be. Would it be less than the planned improvements to the docks?
Ships are already queing at the canal so could we assume that if the infrastructure already existed to send the cargo by train etc that they'd already be doing it.
Moving cargo by ship is still one of the cheapest/most efficient ways per mile so that needs to be taken into account.
As I eluded to above if I recall correctly part of the reason for the canal was to allow major units of the US Navy to get from Atlantic to pacific quickly. This probably isn't a big consideration this time but you never know what's hidden in some legal document somewhere.
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
Yes it will close up again this winter - but the passage is available now and will be open longer each summer as global warming continues.
http
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
Also, comparison slide show of Arctic ice for 2005, 2006 & 2007:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMYTC13J6F_index_1.html
RE: Enlargement of the Panama Canal
Mike McCann
McCann Engineering