PANAMA APPROVES THIRD LOCK PROJECT
For those of you who are fascinated by the Panama Canal, it is now official that a third set of proposed locks have been approved by The Panama Canal Authority. When the Canal originally opened in 1914, it was believed that no ship would ever exceed the 110’ x 1000’ dimensions of the locks. Today fleets of super-ships are in service much larger than “Panamax” or the maximum size allowed through the Canal. To allow for their passage through this historic “short-cut”, a new set of locks would to be built measuring 150’ x 1500’. The approved “third locks” would parallel the existing locks. Additionally, the channel through Gatun Lake and the Galliard Cut would also have to be dredged and deepened. All at a whopping price tag of $20 billion dollars.
Critics say the cost, environmental damage and destruction of land belonging to indigenous people will prohibit the project from ever getting started. With elections now over in nearby Nicaragua, a more moderate Sandanista regime would like to see their country as the location of a competitive option – that of a super container ports linked by a transcontinental rail system. With an estimated cost of $24 billion dollars, huge ships could off-load and load thousands of piggy-back containers in record time making the Panama Canal more of a tourist attraction than the strategic commercial link it once was.