{"id":21675,"date":"2015-02-15T16:53:03","date_gmt":"2015-02-15T16:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cornellsailing.com\/2015\/02\/inspiring-visit-bpo-new-panama-canal-2\/"},"modified":"2015-02-15T17:10:51","modified_gmt":"2015-02-15T17:10:51","slug":"inspiring-visit-bpo-new-panama-canal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cornellsailing.com\/de\/2015\/02\/inspiring-visit-bpo-new-panama-canal\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspiring Visit for BPO to New Panama Canal"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday 13th<\/sup> February the sailors from the Blue Planet Odyssey<\/a> and Pacific Odyssey<\/a> had a memorable visit to the construction site of the new canal. The Panama Canal expansion project is intended to double the capacity of the Panama Canal by 2016 by creating a new lane of traffic and allowing more and larger ships to transit. The vast project involces building two new locks, as well as excavating new channels and expanding existing channels.<\/p>\n

Following this, the participants met with the president of the Panama Canal Authority, Sr Jorge Luis Quijano, which was a fantastic culmination to the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"BPO-PO<\/a>

BPO-PO sailors with Sr Quijano<\/p><\/div>\n

Here are some impressions of the day and personal reflections on the experience:<\/em><\/p>\n

Ceci and Daphne, Ransom<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u00a0Jimmy Cornell organized for all of us to go take a private tour of the construction site of the new Panama Canal, then head into Panama City. The new locks are incredible – truly a feat of human ingenuity and engineering. The project manager gave us an overview of the project. The process of installing the gates is particularly impressive, as they are absolutely massive but are rolled into their slots on hundreds of wheels by a single remote control, a few centimeters at a time. Then we actually took the bus along the bottom of the entire set of locks – the sheer scale of it is amazing.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/a><\/p>\n

We all met back up at the canal administration building, where we were received by the Presidente of the Administracion del Canal de Panama – a polite, friendly gentleman who spoke a bit about the new canal project and signed all of our souvenir logbooks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Signing<\/a>

Signing the logbook of Tahawus<\/p><\/div>\n

Zeke, No Regrets<\/span><\/h2>\n

Our bus route required that we drive across the existing canal. At the Atlantic end there is no permanent bridge (yet), so driving across is accomplished via a one-lane movable bridge that is swung into place when a ship is not passing.<\/p>\n

As it happened, just as we were crossing the lock doors were closing on a Panamax ship, which is the largest ship that can go through the Canal. This photo from the bus gives you a sense of how it \u201cjust fits\u201d into the old lock.<\/p>\n

\"Lock<\/a>

Lock gates closing on a Panamax ship<\/p><\/div>\n

On to the construction site of the new north-side locks. Jimmy introduced Dave Wilson, who is an American ex-pat, a sailor who fell in love with Panama while living on his boat, and a project manager for the construction effort. We keep Dave busy for the next hour or two with endless questions. But first we all must don hard hats and high visibility vests.<\/p>\n

From this vantage point we see a set of three huge retaining pools that will be used to hold the water released from a lock as a ship descends, so the water can be re-used to fill another lock. This design (which has been used for hundreds of years, but not at this scale!) will allow the new\/large locks to operate with about the same amount of water loss (from the lake) as the old locks, yet the new ones will accommodate three times more tonnage of cargo in the transiting ship(s).<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

This leads to some environmental impact thoughts. Of course the water concern is more about retaining the expected depth of the lake, to accommodate the large ships, than it is about the environment, yet the project design seems to include a serious focus on the environment. For example, for every tree cut to make way for the new channel, two were planted. And a contractor was hired for the sole purpose of moving individual animals, from spiders to crocodiles, away from the construction area.<\/p>\n

We drive in the bus down to the lake-end of the new locks.\u00a0 We\u2019re on a narrow strip of land with Gatun Lake on one side\u2026 On the other side we are looking down into the length of the new locks.\u00a0 Dave explains that where we are standing is the \u201cGatun plug,\u201d and it has been the source of perhaps the most sleepless nights of the project. It is this strip of land that will be excavated last, and until then it is preventing Gatun Lake from draining into the new locks (potentially killing workers, destroying some of the work, and draining the lake such that it would require several years of rainfall for it to fill back in after a new plug were constructed). The \u201cplug\u201d has been reinforced with concrete shafts, and is constantly monitored for any sign of leaks. As anyone knows who has built dams on the beach, if a leak gets started the dam will wash away, with little hope of stopping it.<\/p>\n

One of the notable features of the locks is the \u201cgates.\u201d Instead of having swinging\/opposing pairs of gates, like the old locks, the new locks have massive gates that slide across the channel (and which can be moved into different recesses for maintenance purposes). The gates weigh up to 4000 tons each! One hundred feet tall, 180 feet wide, 10+ feet thick.<\/p>\n

Back on the bus, Dave tells us that \u201cif they don\u2019t stop us\u201d we\u2019re going to now drive down into the locks! We will be one of the first to \u201ctransit\u201d the new canal. They don\u2019t stop us.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The side slot that will hold the door when in the open position<\/p><\/div>\n

Jimmy presents Dave with a BPO plaque, and we give Dave a big round of applause. What an amazing and unique experience!<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"IMG_0487\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Back on the bus, and across the isthmus to Panama City. Then we meet with El Presidente of the Canal Authority. Senor Jorge Luis Quijano is a delightful guy. After some pleasantries about sailing he asked if we had any questions. Tim (naturally) says, \u201cI have a controversial one\u2026 Nicaragua\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicaragua are (maybe) building a canal to compete with the Panama Canal. Our host had obviously addressed this issue many times, and it was interesting to hear what he had to say about it. The Panama Canal is a huge part of the Panamanian economy \u2014 extremely profitable, so of course they are paying attention to all the alternatives. There is the possibility of ships using the Northwest Passage. But despite the effects of climate change, this remains a risky proposition, where a ship might approach the area only find that the route is closed. Or worse, find themselves caught in the ice. There is Cape Horn, but that is very far out of the way, as well as being plagued by severe storms. And there is \u201cthe other way around.\u201d i.e., travel from China to the US East Coast by sailing west, via the Suez Canal, instead of east via Panama. The latter option, especially, is primarily a time\/cost\/fuel financial calculation. Big ships, by the way, pay more than a quarter million dollars to transit the Panama Canal transit.<\/p>\n

Senor Quijano was very diplomatic about the Nicaragua project. It will require excavating 10 times the amount of earth excavated in Panama in total over the past 130 years. The Panama Authority has a pretty good idea, based on very recent experience, what it takes to dig a big ditch. The Nicaragua schedule is to build it in five years. Senor Quijano says to accomplish that they would have to import half a million Chinese, and build all parts of it at once, which would add many challenges. And he asserts that there is not sufficient demand to support two canals, so if another one is built they will have a price competition, and thus the financial return expected in Nicaragua would probably not be realized. I am making no assertions about any of this, but I found what he had to say extremely interesting.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"IMG_0512\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We then presented him with a Blue Planet Odyssey plaque, promised that Jimmy would invite him to his boat when Aventura arrives in March, and thanked him profusely for meeting with us. Back on the bus, we sit in city traffic for an hour, and then an hour on the highway back \u201chome\u201d to Shelter Bay. Long day. Fabulous day!<\/p>\n

Tim, No Regrets<\/span><\/h2>\n

We spent the day touring the new Canal with its mega-sized new locks so deep and wide and, ironically given my last place of residence, so sculpted to accommodate ships carrying liquid natural gas. I lived in Bradford County, PA, home to the Marcellus Shale and putatively one of the world’s richest deposits of natural gas … being mined through the technology of “fracking”.\u00a0 Seeing it from the Panama Canal perspective brings home the broader global economic story.\u00a0 These new locks are gargantuan testimonies to how tiny we are in the scheme of the advance of fossil fuel.\u00a0 Even the original canals are massive with container ships, tankers, and the wee cruising boats endlessly traversing the 30 odd miles from east to west and the reverse.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In spite of my own feeling of impotence to stave the seemingly irreversible tide of history, it was humbling to conclude our tour which ended in Panama City in a meeting with the president of the Panama Canal Authority: Jorge Luis Quijano. \u00a0We thirty or so BPO participants met with him in his conference room where he quite engagingly and accessibly chatted with us for a while, signed our log books, and presented us each with a souvenir Panama Canal cap.\u00a0 We got to ask him questions about his work and the future of the Canal as well as to learn more about the just started Canal initiative in Nicaragua.\u00a0 From the President’s perspective this Chinese funded project is an inevitable loser and from his overview I would have to agree.\u00a0 Does the world need another canal?\u00a0 Obviously, Panama has a 120 year historical bias so who am I to render an opinion?\u00a0 Nonetheless, the realm of canals, fossil fuel, make me feel less than miniscule in understanding much less influence its trajectory. \u00a0<\/p>\n

To see more photos of the day visit the Facebook album (no need to login)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday 13th February the sailors from the Blue Planet Odyssey<\/a> and Pacific Odyssey<\/a> had a memorable visit to the construction site of the new canal. The Panama …<\/p>\n

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