Posted on 04/25/2009 11:08:18 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
The excavation and dredging works to enlarge the Panama Canal are being carried out in different levels of execution, as part of a process that should conclude in 2014.
The first dry excavation stage, has been fulfilled by almost 90 per cent.
The second part of the contract, work has been executed by 60 per cent. The third is still in its initial stage. According to available reports the value of the already agreed contracts reached about 339.4 million dollars in December.
The programme consists of the construction of two lock complexes, with three levels each, together with the widening and deepening of the existing navigation channels in the Gatun Lake and the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Another dry digging of approximately four miles will be performed to join the Pacific and Corte Culebra locks. Three consortiums presented their respective proposals to design and build the new locks of the Canal. The Panama Canal widening will cost 5.2 billion dollars, of which 3.2 billion dollars will be spent in the locks.
The Panama Canal is a man-made canal which joins the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, it had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans, replacing the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape Horn at the southernmost tip of South America.
A ship sailing from New York to San Francisco via the canal travels 9,500 KM (6,000 miles), well under half the 22,500 km (14,000 mile) route around Cape Horn.
Although the concept of a canal near Panama dates back to the early 16th century, the first attempt to construct a canal began in 1880 under French leadership. After this attempt failed and saw 21,900 workers die, the project of building a canal was attempted and completed by the United States in the early 1900s, with the canal opening in 1914.
The building of the 77 km (48 mile) canal was plagued by problems, including disease (particularly malaria and yellow fever) and landslides. By the time the canal was completed, a total of 27,500 workmen are estimated to have died in the French and American efforts.
Since opening, the canal has been enormously successful, and continues to be a key conduit for international maritime trade. The canal can accommodate vessels from small private yachts up to large commercial vessels.
The maximum size of vessel that can use the canal is known as Panamax; an increasing number of modern ships exceed this limit, and are known as post-Panamax or super-Panamax vessels. A typical passage through the canal by a cargo ship takes approximately 8-10 hours.
I spent 5 years in Panama during the 1980’s. It’s a beautiful place.
If they are widening and deepening the canal, how are they going to handle the water?
Right now, the water from the locks are ejected into the ocean. Will the water be recycled or do they think the lakes will have enough water to meet their needs?
I thought those canals tend to widen out naturally with age.
Who is paying for this?
Did you know we paid for the Panama Canal 3 times?
1. France
2. Columbia
3. Panama
Then we gave the land back.
A great read is “The Path Between the Seas.” I read most of it a few years ago, then got busy but I should pick it up again to finish it. I didn’t put it down out of boredom by any stretch.
That is why I want to know who is paying hundreds of billions for the work. We gave it back to Panama who promptly leased it to the Chinese. So are we paying for all this work yet again? The article discusses all the costs and makes absolutely no mention who is funding the work.
I am hoping it is not us, and guessing it is us. Then again, the Chinese could be paying for the improvements this time.
“We gave it back to Panama who promptly leased it to the Chinese.”
The above statement (about the chinese) is false, utterly and unequivocally.
“If they are widening and deepening the canal, how are they going to handle the water?”
I have not actually seen the answer to this, but it must involve a much higher recycling ability.
I know the actual digging for the 3rd lock area near miraflores and gatun (which I believe they are integrating into this project) was done before WWII (the canal would have had 3rd locks if not for the war interrupting work that was never resumed).
Sorry, meant billions, not hundreds of billions. Every since the bailouts and Obama’s budgets, mere billions seem to be pocket change. Now I’m having trouble thinking in terms of mere “billions”.
OK, I found an article that said Panama is funding the work and hopes to get it back in fees from ships using the canal. Good, just as long as it’s not us. I know Obama and Chopper Ben could just print another $5 big ones for the work but I still think $5 billion is a significant amount of money, especially since the USA is broke.
If that is false, what is the truth. It’s rather perplexing that you would state an absolute claim of a falsehood then not state the true scenario.
Μολὼν λάβε
“From what I understand Panama still owns the canal but the Chinese have leased literally everything around it. “
they do have balboa and cristobal ports (via HW) and have expanded the balboa port area, mainly to the east, for container storage.
As far as I know, that is it.
“It’s rather perplexing that you would state an absolute claim of a falsehood then not state the true scenario.”
Probably fatigue of seeing this nonsense pop up here year after year and having to sometimes argue with very insistent people who tell me that the canal I am 3 miles from and where I have friends employed is actually chinese-controlled. I have yet to see a person arguing this who can tell me the name of the agency that operates the canal, and the name of the country which owns that agency and the canal itself. (clue - not hw/china)
HW has control of balboa and cristobal ports.
That is it. No control of anything involving canal area or operations in any way shape form or fashion.
Folks who don’t have clue one on the geography of the former canal zone try (sometimes very aggressively) to make those 2 ports into control of the canal, thanks in part to some alarmist and somewhat distorted testimony by an admiral a decade ago. It simply isn’t so, though.
Chinese expansion, via population export, commercial purchases, and political purchases (such as the democratic party) are everywhere, including here, but this ‘they control the canal’ stuff is just hopelessly misinformed nonsense.
This urban myth has been around a decade now.
Not to mention American forces could be there long before Chinese forces; and the Panamanians are not slackers as fighters, either.
“Then we gave the land back.”
We never gave the land “back.”
It was never Panama’s to begin with. Congress and the Senate gave our land away to Panama.
“The above statement (about the chinese) is false, utterly and unequivocally.”
Thank you, WoofDog123.
Here’s an article indicating the canal is borrowing the money to fund the construction.
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he head of the Panama Canal Authority said Wednesday that plans to widen the canal have not been changed because of the global financial crisis.
Alberto Aleman Aleman told Xinhua the project will benefit the world economy for years to come.
“The Panama Canal and the world have suffered recessions before. That is nothing new,” Aleman said, adding the project has “all the support and guarantee” from financial institutions.
Panama President Martin Torrijos said Tuesday during a meeting to sign loans worth 2.3 billion U.S. dollars for the canal project that it was not affected by the financial uncertainty.
Funding for the project was given to the Panama Canal Authorityby five international financial agencies.
It is estimated that the project will cost around 5.25 billion dollars, of which 43 percent is to be covered by loans, the rest by user fees.
The project, which started in September 2007, is expected to be completed by 2014.
The 81-kilometer waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans was opened in 1914 but now is too narrow for large modern freighters.
“I have not actually seen the answer to this, but it must involve a much higher recycling ability.”
It has never been answered.
Because of that, I was one of the few folks who voted against the expansion of the Canal.
About the 3d locks, I read the reason the project was unfinished was because we were unable to get the necessary materials to carryout the project. The materials were needed for WWII.
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