Completion of the new Panama canal, can also pass vessels of 13,000 class containers that could not pass the conventional canal

ByVil.sandi

The Panama Canal is an important route that plays a third of the maritime linking the East Coast of the United States and Asia, but since the traffic capacity is approaching the limit, expansion work is carried out. Construction completed on May 31, 2016, and finally operation will begin as "New Panama Canal" expanded from June 26.

The Panama Canal Expands - WSJ
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-panama-canal-expands-1466378348


The New Panama Canal: A Risky Bet - The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/22/world/americas/panama-canal.html

Expansion work started in 2007. It was intended to create the third route of the Panama Canal that does not use the lock gate (a device that moves ship between different water levels), which was originally scheduled for completion in 2014 However, there is a delay of two years, it was finally completed in 2016. The construction period was 9 years, the budget invested was 5.4 billion dollars (about 570 billion yen).

Canal expansion has several factors. The capacity of the small ship concentrated, the capacity reached the limit. And because the shipping industry is sluggish, the shipping company has chosen to operate with "a super-large ship" rather than "two large vessels", and there were many boats that could not pass through the Panama Canal is.

The size that can pass through the conventional Panama Canal is "Panamax"It was called 5000 loadable 20-foot containers used in international cargo. However, "Neo Panamax" which can pass through the expanded new Panama Canal will increase the number of loadable containers to 13,000 pieces.

It is already known that 136 vessels that have not been able to pass in "Panamax" will change the route to the new Panama Canal, and it is expected that the navigation amount of the new Panama Canal will double in terms of tons conversion in the future.

Also, as for the time, it is shortened by about 5 days compared with turning around Horn Cape via the Panama Canal, and great effect is expected.

However, at the New York Times, it was not that the ships loading 20,000 containers could pass as usual, the fact that the shipping itself was a sloping industry, and the expansion work was not a big risky bet I point out.