Those’re Some Serious Plátano Chips
Panama Canal expansion may force toll rise
Tolls on the Panama Canal may have to increase nearly four-fold to fund the canal’s planned expansion – a move that could reduce the waterway’s competitiveness against alternatives…
…It currently costs a container ship capable of carrying 4,200 twenty-foot containers about$170,000 for each transit of the six-lock canal…
…Under the worst financing conditions and if less traffic than expected used the canal, the report says, tolls might have to rise by 272 per cent to nearly four times the present level. They are more likely to rise 128 per cent to a level more than twice the current toll, however.
Bet it’s not looking like such a great deal to the Panamanians now. Supertankers have blossomed immensely in size, to the point that some current ones are too large and draft too deep to pass through the Canal at all. One disasterous slip by a Canal pilot and a lock could be taken out. They’re just squeaking through as it is.
World Stuff | Crusader | 
July 12, 2005 5:49 pm
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Your boat’s gonna need a bigger change drawer.
Do they take EasyPass?
Some of the newer container ships will hold up to 8,000 containers. Simply mind-boggling, they are.
And here the Panamanians thought it was just SOOOOOO great to get the Canal. Another fuck-up by Jimmy Carter, all the way around.
Tangential, but I did ever mention that the trial moot courtroom at Tulane has a bench from the old US District Court for the District of the Canal Zone? The Canal Zone was part of the 5th Circuit, which seats in New Orleans.
I dunno, Dave. Yeah, Jimmuh Cartuh was (is) a fuck up. But now the Nation of Panama is at the top of the list of those responsible to find the cash for any canal upgrades.
I expect that America is down near the bottom. But doubtless there is someone in Panama who will claim that there’s a warranty on the canal, or some similar silly nonsense.
The damn gringos gave us damaged goods! Let’s sue!
I’m betting they think if they let it go to wrack and ruin, that we’ll step in for the bail out. After all, there is a provision for such an intervention in the treaty.
If we do step in for a bail out, does Panama become the 51st state, and pay taxes?
I thought supertankers already couldn’t make it through the canal, along with most large container ships.