The Expansion Of The Panama Canal

One of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World is the Panama Canal. Started by the French in the 1800s, the attempt to construct the canal was not successful until attempted and completed by the U.S. in 1914. The Panama Canal is a major route connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean via the Caribbean Sea. The purpose of building the canal was to reduce the costs and time of shipping. Instead of sailing around the southern tip of South America, ships can go through the canal to cross between the two oceans. In 2006, the Panamanian government proposed an expansion project that would add a third lane of traffic to increase the capacity of the canal. The commercial opening of the Panama Canal expansion was in June, 2016 (Joseph Bonney, …show more content…
As the traffic flow through the canal increases accompanied with a rise in tolls, the Panama Canal Authority believes that “the expansion, once completed, will boost Panama's annual growth rate by 1.2 percentage points, helping GDP grow to 2.5 times the 2005 level by 2025” (source). The extra income could be used by the Panamanian government to unlock prosperity and reduce the high rates of poverty in the country. To do so, the government will need to spend money to build a better education system, more hospitals, and to hire more people. On the other hand, the expansion of the canal rises a concern for environmental health due to a potential increase in pollution. The bigger ships arriving at Panama will contribute to more air pollution, because the crew will need to run the engines longer to unload and reload a ship. Another source of pollution is the diesel-fueled trucks or trains used to transport the container to the …show more content…
About 75% of Asian imported are brought across the Pacific to West Coast of the U.S. by ship, because it is the fastest way. Then, the goods are transported to the East Coast via trucks and trains. Now, after Panama Canal has expanded, bigger ships can go directly to the East Coast across the Atlantic, and “that is going to drastically change the way merchandise is distributed,” says Carla Lopez, head of research in Latin America for CBRE. This route is cheaper for shippers, because Post-Panamax ships can carry double the size of Panamax ships and the cargo will travel less miles on the costly rail and truck routes. Ports on the East Coast, including New York, Miami and Houston have been preparing to receive these massive ships. Also, the port Authority in New York and New Jersey has dedicated more than $1 billion dollars to raise the level of the of the Bayonne Bridge to allow the ships to pass under