I’ve been hearing about the widening of the Panama Canal (ongoing, finish date 2014) and its benefits ever since I have been here in Panama. A wider and deeper canal means that larger freight ships will be able to pass through, creating more traffic and thus more jobs and revenue. The canal locks today only fit ships that carry 5000 containers, while now newer ships can hold up to 12,000 containers and have to seek alternate routes.
Currently, large ships from Asia that won’t fit through the Canal dock in California (Los Angeles or Long Beach) and then the containers are transferred to trains which run to the East Coast. Now these ports are threatened. The California “Beat the Canal” effort is attempting to prepare for the 2014 deadline by expediting the transfer from boat to train, to make the route more attractive for time-sensitive shipments than the longer canal route.
While Californians are rushing to mitigate the “threat posed by the canal,” Panamanians are preparing to celebrate the success of their ownership of the new and improved canal in 2014.
“The Fickle Asian Container,” The Economist. 28 January 2012.
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