[BITList] Problems with the new larger Locks in the Panama Canal.

[Michael Feltham]

New York Times says new Panama Canal crumbling before it opens

SHODDY construction and weak economics has condemned the prospects of the expanded Panama Canal before it opens on June 26, says the New York Times. To be successful, said the report, the new canal needs enough water, durable concrete and locks big enough to safely accommodate the larger ships. On all three counts it has failed to meet expectations, according to dozens of interviews with contractors, canal workers, maritime experts and diplomats, as well as a review of public and internal records. The low winning bid, a billion dollars less than the nearest competitor's, made "a technically complex mega-project, precarious from the outset, according to a confidential analysis commissioned by the consortium's insurer. "There is little room in the budget for execution errors or significant inefficiencies. "This is a high-risk situation," said Hill International analysts in 2010. Among the biggest risks is the concrete that lines the walls of the six mammoth locks punctuating the path between the seas. Last summer, water began gushing through concrete that was supposed to last 100 years but could not make it to the first ship. Hill analysts had warned that the consortium's budget for concrete was 71 per cent smaller than that of the next lowest bidder. The budget also allotted roughly 25 per cent less for steel to reinforce that concrete.On the lock design, tugboat captains say they cannot safely escort the larger ships because the locks are too small with too little margin for error, especially in windy conditions and tricky currents. In fact, in a feasibility study obtained by The New York Times, the Panama Canal Authority had earlier concluded that the tugs needed significantly more room.The tugboats themselves are a problem, especially the 14 new boats purchased from a Spanish company, mostly for the expanded locks. To manoeuvre safely, they must be precisely controlled, but according to captains, they are so unstable that they operate best going backward, something that cannot be done while towing ships through the canal."The Spanish tugs are perfectly awful," said Ivan de la Guardia, the head of the tugboat captains' union. The new locks exist for one reason: so that huge neopanamax ships can move far greater quantities of cargo through the canal. For them to do that, the waterway must remain deep enough so that fully laden ships do not hit bottom. But canal officials discounted warnings that they needed new sources of water, and during a recent drought, ship had to significantly lighten their loads.The consequences will be wide-ranging if the canal does not deliver as promised. American grain and soybean farmers and producers of liquefied natural gas, for example, may find it harder to sell to Asian customers. Asian manufacturers may forsake the struggling ports on America's east coast for those in the west. Or they, and ultimately consumers, will shoulder the added cost of going the long way around, through the Suez Canal.The Panama Canal Authority, which oversaw the design of the new locks and chose the winning bidder, says that while any large, complex project is bound to encounter unexpected problems, the new locks are sound and safe.Eldon Gath, a geologist based in the United States, discovered quickly just how sensitive some Panamanians are about the canal. After Mr Gath prepared a report for the canal authority noting the earthquake risk from faults under the canal, he recalled, Panama's president at the time, Ricardo Martinelli, went on the attack. "President Martinelli told us we had insulted the republic," Mr Gath said. Source: Schednet

 
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