Panama Canal info - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

Ziggy7 · 10-26-2007, 03:50 AM

On September 3, nearly 100 years after the opening of the Panama Canal, 30,000 people gathered for a ground-breaking ceremony as work began on the expansion of this man-made wonder. Eighty percent of Panamanians voted in favor of the $5.25 billion expansion project last year, which aims to lengthen and widen the canal with the addition of one new lane of traffic, doubling its capacity.

The expansion is expected to take seven years to complete, and will include two new sets of locks, measuring 400 feet longer and 70 feet wider than the current locks. In addition, the current 39-foot draft will be increased to 50 feet in the new locks.

The Panama Canal is involved in four percent of worldwide trade and 11 percent of U.S. commerce, so the expansion was designed with cargo ships in mind, but the cruise industry will certainly benefit from the expansion as well. When it opens in 2014, the wider, longer new lane will allow all existing "post-Panamax" ships, which are too wide to pass through the canal as it is now, to traverse the canal.

Char · 10-26-2007, 09:52 AM

That will be an improvement!

Ships that have to go all the way around the horn wil be able to pass through to the other coast and that will enable more cruise ships to sail both Atlantic and Pacific itineraries.

I certainly hope the powers that be don't decide to build even bigger ships that wouldn't fit through the new canal!