Rising water levels have restored transits through the Panama Canal, but the canal authority is also looking into how a land bridge could move even more cargo across the isthmus, reports gCaptain.
ACP administrator Ricaurte Vasquez Morales recently unveiled a vision to boost the canal’s capacity by 5m containers a year by 2045, up from a comparatively modest 8.3m today – by moving boxes overland.
Transits
It would also be a “valve” to help cope with any recurrence of the drought that seriously hobbled transits in the final months of 2023 and lasted into the spring. In January, only 22 ships were permitted to transit each day, and ACP indicated this might have to be reduced to 18. Normally 36-38 ships pass through the canal each day.
Other carriers were sceptical. While the land bridge offered faster transits from South-east Asia and Oceania to US east coast ports than the route around the Cape of Good Hope, it added around $2,000 in costs.
Moreover, he added, it was not viable to move empty containers to Asia using a land bridge because of the cost, and moving them over Europe would result in imbalances.
Viability
Meanwhile, the ACP has another plan to ensure the canal’s long-term viability in the face of future droughts. It is proposing a new reservoir and dam to supplement the water pumped into the canal from Gatun Lake. The project, estimated to cost $1.6bn, would supposedly boost the canal’s capacity by an additional 12 or 13 transits a day.
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Source: Gcaptain
