You can read all the full argument for it’s justification directly here from the Investment group thats looking to fund this.
http://hknd-group.com/trends-in-global-shipping-trade-demand-a-new-canal/
They claim a 240% increase in traffic between east and west by 2030. Thats the sort of time scale they are looking to make this economically justified over.
Of course, the growth of “3-D printing” is going to put the Chinese out of business, so be wary!
They’re expecting traffic to more than triple in the next 17 years? That seems… optimistic :dubious:
Meethinks the 240% figure is more of a hope than an expectation.
I see what you didn’t do there.
I wonder if the people thinking about a 2nd canal are also figuring into the equations traffic thru the future NE and NW passages. While seasonal and all, if you’re canal traffic falls off for 3 months during the summer, that’s going to hurt your numbers.
Also, could the Nicaraguan financiers survive a modest price war with Panama?
I don’t think they’ve thought their cunning plan all the way through.
They also claim that the Nicaragua Canal will be able to accommodate the Super-Post-Panamax ships that can’t fit through even the expanded Panama Canal, but don’t explain how they are going to do this. This will of course call for the construction of even larger locks and a much wider canal over a much greater distance.
Another factor to consider is where they will get the water to operate the locks. The only way that the new larger Panama Canal locks are feasible is that they will recycle some of the water that operates them (but they can’t recycle all of it). Presumably the Nicaragua Canal will also have to use some kind of recycling system. But even so, the Lake Nicaragua watershed gets no more than 2500 mm of rain a year. Most of the Panama Canal watershed gets at least 2500 mm of rain, and parts may get 5000 or 6000 mm a year.
[Quote=coremelt]
You can read all the full argument for it’s justification directly here from the Investment group thats looking to fund this.
http://hknd-group.com/trends-in-glob...d-a-new-canal/
They claim a 240% increase in traffic between east and west by 2030. Thats the sort of time scale they are looking to make this economically justified over.
[/QUOTE]
They also claim that the Nicaragua Canal will be able to accommodate the Super-Post-Panamax ships that can’t fit through even the expanded Panama Canal, but don’t explain how they are going to do this. This will of course call for the construction of even larger locks and a much wider canal over a much greater distance.
Another factor to consider is where they will get the water to operate the locks. The only way that the new larger Panama Canal locks are feasible is that they will recycle some of the water that operates them (but they can’t recycle all of it). Presumably the Nicaragua Canal will also have to use some kind of recycling system. But even so, the Lake Nicaragua watershed gets no more than 2500 mm of rain a year. Most of the Panama Canal watershed gets at least 2500 mm of rain, and parts may get 5000 or 6000 mm a year.
If you want to handle ships that big, you’ll need some sort of locks that would be easily detected.
Locks of pretty much any size are “easily detected.”
What happens when the advent of 3-D Printing makes Chinese industry collapse?
3-d printers will put China out of business the same way home cooking closes down restaurants.