Panamanians attend a ceremony marking the beginning of the expansion of the Panama Canal project in Paraiso on the outskirts Panama City, Monday, Sept. 3, 2007. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)
Posted on 09/03/2007 4:06:45 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
PANAMA CITY, Panama - Panama blasted away part of a hillside next to the canal on Monday, marking the start of the waterway's biggest expansion since it opened 93 years ago.
In the presence of former President Carter, who signed the 1977 treaty that gave Panama control of the waterway, Panamanian President Martin Torrijos celebrated the start of construction on two wider sets of locks being added to both sides of the canal.
"We are witnesses to an exceptional and unique act," Torrijos said moments after the explosion sent up a curtain of smoke and water.
The $5.25 billion expansion is expected to double the 50-mile canal's capacity and lower the price of consumer goods on the East Coast of the United States by allowing wider vessels to squeeze through with more cargo.
About two-thirds of the cargo that passed through the canal is headed to or from the United States. China is the Panama Canal's second-largest user.
The waterway now moves 4 percent of the world's cargo. The new locks, approved in a referendum nearly a year ago, are expected to be ready for use between 2014 and 2015.
The Panama Canal Authority, the autonomous government agency that runs the canal, is borrowing up to $2.3 billion between 2009 and 2011 to help finance the project. It expects to pay that back by increasing ship tolls an average of 3.5 percent a year.
In addition to benefiting international trade, the new locks are expected to generate more revenue for the canal and Panama's government, which is struggling to pay back more than $10 billion in debt and battle poverty that affects some 40 percent of the population.
"I'm proud of the grand plans for this expansion," said Carter, who signed the 1977 treaty with Torrijos' father, strongman Omar Torrijos, that led to the U.S. handover of the canal to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999.
Under Panama's control, canal accidents and the time needed to transverse the canal are down, while revenues have increased.
President Theodore Roosevelt arranged for Panama's independence from Colombia in 1903 to build the canal. By some accounts, more than 25,000 people died during American and French efforts to build the engineering marvel, which opened on Aug. 15, 1914.
Also attending Monday's ceremony were Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and several Central American leaders and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
Panamanians attend a ceremony marking the beginning of the expansion of the Panama Canal project in Paraiso on the outskirts Panama City, Monday, Sept. 3, 2007. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)
Hey Norm!
Hot enough for ya?
Ya ever go thru the Canal..? we're headed thru next April.
.
A controlled explosion marks the beginning of the expansion of the Panama Canal project
in Paraiso on the outskirts Panama City, Monday, Sept. 3, 2007. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)
Panama's President Martin Torrijos, second left, and Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter wave during the Panama Canal expansion project's inauguration ceremony in Paraiso, on the outskirts of Panama City, Monday, Sept. 3, 2007. Panama blasted away part of a hillside next to the canal Monday, marking the start of the waterway's biggest expansion project since it opened, 93 years ago. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)
Left to right: Panama's President Martin Torrijos, former US President Jimmy Carter, OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza and Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega attend the Panama Canal expansion project's inauguration ceremony in Paraiso, on the outskirts of Panama City, Monday, Sept. 3, 2007. Panama blasted away part of a hillside next to the canal Monday, marking the start of the waterway's biggest expansion project since it opened, 93 years ago. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)
Wearing duct tape to muffle my fingers!
The big “give away”
Carter is so proud of himself for failing to negotiate an extended lease for the canal. He was an idiot stick when he became president and went down hill from there.
He singlehandedly destabalized the Middle-East for over thirty years and has set back our dealings with North Korea for over ten.
This nation will be much safer when he has left the building figuratively.
Really cool pics! I’d love to go there.
95 here again, for the 4th day in a row. And now they’re saying we’re having a “heat wave” here next week. I hate to think what that might mean.
Hot hot hot.
I was hoping to see the sea level canal in Nicaragua. Plowshare, yes.
I will be taking pics when we go thru for sure,, maybe I should do a Canal thread?
Naaaaaw. Too much work. altho I think we get free internet on the ship, being frequent cruiser and all., yaknow. :)
We really cooled off here, just keep the bucket and shovel handy..
I don’t know.
NICARAGUA: Plan for Inter-Ocean Canal Reborn
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=20122
Lidia Hunter
MANAGUA, Sep 13 (Tierramérica) - Nicaragua is once again dreaming of building an inter-ocean route — one that would make the Panama Canal look tiny. But the mega-project, which would take 10 years to complete and would cost more than 25 times the national budget, could be catastrophic for the environment, say ecologists.
There are four projects under consideration for connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via different routes across Nicaragua. The goal is to be able to transport volumes of cargo that the Panama Canal cannot handle.
To date, only the government has proposed a water-only route. If approved, the canal must guarantee ”absolute control over sovereignty and ecology,” Arturo Harding, Nicaragua’s environment minister, told Tierramérica.
Harding is a member of a governmental commission that is drawing up a preliminary study to determine whether canal construction would be feasible.
Jorge Huezo, also on the commission, told Tierramérica that the studies should be ready by the end of the year, and then a legislative bill would be sent to congress ”in order to give the country a legal framework for negotiating mega-projects, particularly the canal.”
The route ”would be much bigger than the Panama Canal — if it is built,” said Harding.
Went through several times in ‘96 with Vincennes on counter narcotic ops. Conned the ship on a night transit. Pretty cool. Little known fact that the canal runs basically north/south and the Pacific side is further east than the Atlantic side.
Some kind of lock system would have to be built in Nicaragua even if it is a sea level all water route. Can you imagine the tidal effect? Besides that, somebody said sea level is different between the Caribbean and the Pacific and it would probably do some bad things to open that up.
Thanks for that, I need to post a map for reference.
Here’s a link for web cams including the expansion area.
http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html
Hit this one to go to the Panama Canal start page
http://www.pancanal.com/
“Carter is so proud of himself for failing to negotiate an extended lease for the canal.”
The US had decades to renegotiate whatever base leases they wanted, particularly Howard AFB and Fort Sherman, and did neither, though apparently the negotiations for use of Howard were sandbagged by the Panama side.
It’s a pretty grand project, could have lots of side effects.
‘attending Monday’s ceremony were Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.’
I thought this alzheimers/parkinson senator was dead. Must’ve had a drool bowl and catherized for the trip.
As I recall, the Atlantic side is 19 (?) feet higher than the Pacific side. I don’t know why but it’s the reason for the locks.
Interesting.
“This nation will be much safer when he has left the building figuratively.”
And there is no guarantee that Jimmy’s brand of “Baptist” assures him a place in heaven. He better be wearing asbestos long-jimmy’s when he passes from this scene...
19 feet is a lot. The Panama Canal gets some elevation in addition to that and isn’t at sea level all the way, either Atlantic or Pacific.
It should be built. Also, the Bering Strait Bridge/Tunnel for rail and pipeline.
My bad, it’s 20 cm. differnce on the Atlantic to the Pacific. I remembered after reading is that the locks are there to raise and lower the ships to the level of Gatun lake in the middle. The water from the lake and the runoff from the rain forrests is how water is transferred in the locks. Its basically downhill in both directions.
Bering Strait Bridge/Tunnel for rail and pipeline.
—
That would be quite the undertaking..
Well, that’s a foot, and probably an average not taking tides into account. The tide pouring through the Nicaragua canal might be an awesome thing if they don’t block it, not to mention the foot that would try to come to a level.
We’re up to the task. Just say when.
I'd think crossing the strait would be the cheap part. You have to run a lot of track and pipe to connect the two land terminals to anything else and maintenance costs to keep the rail line open would be high. The current Alaska pipeline shows that the pipeline could be kept going overland, but is there any current rail in in Alaska, Canada, Russia or Scandinavia that would be comparable?
Didn’t the lease end in 1999? I don’t remember right now. It seems there was a lot more involved in this than just Carter being another person on a list with the ability to renegotiate.
That crossed my mind as I was entering the post. Only God knows a man’s heart, but it doesn’t look good from my vantage point.
I’m a Balboa High School graduate, Class of ‘86.
Did the Corps of Engineers get the contract for the expansion?
Are they going to recycle the water or dump it into the ocean? I assume they will still use locks.
Doesn’t china have control over the Panama Canal now?
Jimmy’s Christian ethics are so strong that he gave Willie Jeff a pass on his Oval Office affairs with the lady in the blue dress.
No, I don;t think so, they have control over the ports at both ends is more like it. Panama still calls the shots on the Canal.
That was no lady
Carter was too envious to damn Clinton. For a guy who taught Sunday Schoo, he sure was morally adrift.
Carter was too envious to damn Clinton. For a guy who taught Sunday School, he sure was morally adrift.
There were also no “Christian ethics” demonstrated during this man’s Presidency. And the brain of the family owned a gas station in Plains.
With those lips, ya suppose he was an occasional visitor to the Oval Orifice during those years?
-Did the Corps of Engineers get the contract for the expansion? —
Not sure,, their web site is not up to date, talks about a bid process but not the winner.
-Are they going to recycle the water or dump it into the ocean? I assume they will still use locks. —
Good question on recycle or dump the water, haven’t seen the actual plans for the new locks, good idea long-term if they can implement it ..
Like spending time in the Lincoln Bedroom. I don’t know. I don’t even want to think about it. LOL
That's where I was wrong then. I thought if they controlled both ends they controlled it all. My mistake. Thanks.
It’s a screwy arrangement, I could be wrong. we should have never signed off on it..
Dumb ass carter.
give it a break, this has been going around for what will soon be a decade...do appreciate the pic links, though. What exactly is the Cristobal and Balboa port Hutchinson-Whampoa issue anyway? Have you been to either of these ports, talked to management and/or employees, etc?
Why is the former Rodman naval facility not included in your diagram? Its strategic significance is as great as that of Balboa’s...
Very interesting post. Thank you. : )
Why don’t they just wait for global warming to submerge Central America?
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