The New Panama Canal

_Tombstone_

Great little write up.


http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/22/world/americas/panama-canal.html

Atlantic Dawn

Only $3.1billion and look what it gets, we will be blowing well over 10 times that bailing out the banks and for zero.

Synode

Did you read the article. Because it sounds like they'll be getting a crock for the money spent.

How the hell can anyone come in at a billion lower than the nearest bid

duffman13

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Only $3.1billion and look what it gets, we will be blowing well over 10 times that bailing out the banks and for zero.

Have you even bothered to read the article? Serious safety fears about the new canal and many short cuts taken by the construction company.

From the article:
"Last summer, water began gushing through concrete that was supposed to last 100 years but could not make it to the first ship. The Hill analysts had warned that the consortium’s budget for concrete was 71 percent smaller than that of the next lowest bidder. The budget also allotted roughly 25 percent less for steel to reinforce that concrete.

Then there is the lock design. Tugboat captains say they cannot safely escort the larger ships because the locks are too small with too little margin for error, especially in windy conditions and tricky currents. In fact, in a feasibility study obtained by The Times, the Panama Canal Authority had earlier concluded that the tugs needed significantly more room."

It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen!

Atlantic Dawn

Actually I only read the opening paragraph to see the price of the contract, it sounds like an absolute disaster, my bad :pac:

Synode wrote: »

Did you read the article. Because it sounds like they'll be getting a crock for the money spent.

How the hell can anyone come in at a billion lower than the nearest bid

duffman13 wrote: »

Have you even bothered to read the article? Serious safety fears about the new canal and many short cuts taken by the construction company.

From the article:
"Last summer, water began gushing through concrete that was supposed to last 100 years but could not make it to the first ship. The Hill analysts had warned that the consortium’s budget for concrete was 71 percent smaller than that of the next lowest bidder. The budget also allotted roughly 25 percent less for steel to reinforce that concrete.

Then there is the lock design. Tugboat captains say they cannot safely escort the larger ships because the locks are too small with too little margin for error, especially in windy conditions and tricky currents. In fact, in a feasibility study obtained by The Times, the Panama Canal Authority had earlier concluded that the tugs needed significantly more room."

It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen!

_Tombstone_

Nearly $5 billion over-budget and two years behind schedule, the newly renovated Panama Canal reopened for use this week. Panamanian officials hope that the massive 102 year-old structure would double the amount of cargo traveling to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

However, if you thought the recent project may have been wrought with issues, imagine what the original engineers were faced with over a century ago. Initially started by the French, after facing hundreds of deaths from the workers due to yellow fever and other mishaps, the US took over the ambitious project before handing it over to the Panamanians.

Here’s several images that show the transformation of the canal throughout the years:

http://uk.businessinsider.com/transformation-of-panama-canal-2016-6?r=US&IR=T

Sam Russell

Does this make any difference to us?

Will ships going from China to Europe use the canal or will they come the other way?

LeinsterDub

Sam Russell wrote: »

Does this make any difference to us?

Will ships going from China to Europe use the canal or will they come the other way?

An Awful lot of nothing between China and the Americas

Sam Russell

I think the Japanese might not agree.

plodder

I can't help getting the impression that there is an element of US sour grapes about the contract going to European companies rather than American ones. Panama is America's backyard and European inolvement has always been a touchy subject. Time will tell obviously, but it reminds me a bit of the "leaky" Dublin Port tunnel in terms of the faults being hyped up for all their worth.

LeinsterDub

Sam Russell wrote: »

I think the Japanese might not agree.

Well if your going to pedantic. For most cases heading from China to the canal Japan would be going out of the way. Where as there is the euroasian continent to the north en route from from China to the suez.

yannakis

_Tombstone_ wrote: »

Great little write up.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/22/world/americas/panama-canal.html

Awesome visuals and a great article indeed. Thanks :pac: