Interesting Article About Expansion After the Expansion AND...

[BillB48]

AND... there is a rather casual reference "should be open on April 1, 2016." That's the first thing I have seen the opening would not be in January 2016. Have no idea as to whether the April date is a mistake in fact, a typo or even an April Fool's joke! Guess we will just have to see if there is any other follow up on the date.

 

Link to the article...

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/26/us-panama-canal-idUSKBN0MM24I20150326

[Richard in Panama]

I was speaking at a conference in Panama City along with one of the Canal engineers in charge of the expansion project two weeks ago, and he said April 2016 which was the first I had heard that date.

[BillB48]

Maybe they figure it will be better if they just ease out the bad news slowly?

[Richard in Panama]

The pilots union has expressed concern about being able to adequately control ships only using a tug at either end and without the use of "mule" or engines. As you know the Canal de Panama is purchasing a Post Panamax ship for the pilots to use in actual, live training. They've been training on simulators, but before they start taking paying customers through the new locks they want time to practice. I suspect the new locks will be operational late January 2016, but not open for business until April.

 

I also understand the deepening of the channel underneath the Bridge of The Americas is proving more difficult and taking longer than originally expected.

 

To me the most amazing part is the construction of the Pacific Locks access channel between the locks and Gatun Lake, since the Pacific Locks take the ships to 85 feet, the elevation of the Lake, and under the existing locks the ships go through Miraflores Locks, Miraflores Lake, then Pedro Miguel before getting to the 85 feet elevation of Gatun Lake. So you'll have two "avenues" of water at different elevations. Amazing stuff and you can see much of this from the ship as you're going through on the Pacific side.

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Edited March 30, 2015 by Richard in Panama

[Richard in Panama]

Anyone who is interested in the Canal, or planning a Canal cruise should spend some time on the Canal de Panama web sites PanCanal.com and MiCanaldePanama.com

 

There's an

on YouTube.

 

Regards, Richard

[BillB48]

The pilots union has expressed concern about being able to adequately control ships only using a tug at either end and without the use of "mule" or engines.

 

I ran across this video a couple of months ago and found it very interesting and the pilots discuss the ship/mule vs ship/tug among other things. You do have to factor in a lot of labor-management posturing, but there are some real issues none the less. Even though some Canal enthusiasts might have their eyes glaze over with some of the figures, there is some good Canal scenery.