Panama Canal Expansion – Chance for Environment

Expansion of one of the world’s most important shipping routes brings with it a unique opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint of the marine industry, experts claim.

Expanded sections of the Panama Canal are due to open in 2014 following an eight-year programme to widen and deepen the waterway in order to increase capacity for liner shipping.

This will remove the breadth restriction of 32.2m (known as ‘panamax’ in the shipping industry) that has constrained ships using the canal since it opened in 1914.

The main reason for the expansion is to increase the capacity of the canal by facilitating the passage of larger container ships, to the benefit of the Panamanian economy for which canal revenues make a significant contribution.

But in a paper published this month in the International Journal of Maritime Engineering, Paul Stott and Dr Peter Wright of Newcastle University argue this $6 billion programme offers the industry as a whole an opportunity to reduce its environmental impact.

“This is a great example of unintended consequences,” explains Mr Stott, a senior lecturer in marine engineering at Newcastle University.

“Potentially, what we have here is an ideal

Article source: http://www.dredgingtoday.com/2012/01/24/panama-canal-expansion-chance-for-environment/ posted in Panama Canal