Expanding a modern marvel

The Panama Canal was a monster feat of engineering a century ago. Designed by the French and finished by the Americans, this interoceanic channel is one of the largest public construction projects in US history. The 50-mile canal cuts through the continental divide, linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans together and serves as a major shortcut for international shipping.

To create the canal, engineers determined that ships would travel through an enormous man made lake. To do this, thousands of workers from Asia, Europe, and the United States came to Panama to dam the mighty Chagres River. The canal uses a system of locks to lift ships 85 feet above sea level in a coordinated and synchronized fashion.

Every day, over 40 ships pass through the canal. But the existing locks can’t handle today’s modern supertankers and container ships. To cater to this larger transit tonnage and global shipping demands, Panama is taking its two-lane highway and adding a third, installing new locks and water saving basins. TechKnow got an exclusive look at the project’s construction, from the ground up. 

The new canal requires 51 million gallons of water to transport each ship. According to Ilya Marotta, the Executive Vice President of Engineering, the new locks will be 30% larger than the old ones, but they will use 7% less water to transport three times more cargo. Overall, 60% of the water will be recycled. 

Just bringing in different parts to construct the new lane was a masterful exercise in human ingenuity. The gates in the old canal would open and close. For the new canal, engineers designed the gates to slide in and out. The expansion lane uses sixteen massive steel gates, each weighing 3,300 tons, that were made in Italy and shipped to Panama on a specially designed vessel. To bring the gates inside the narrow slots they’ll rest in, they were transported very carefully on a platform with wheels, and maneuvered inside with millimeter-by-millimeter clearance. 

This massive $5.2 billion expansion project will be a major boon for ports and the Panamanian government. There have been snags along the way, but the canal is set to open in 2016.

Even so, the economic promise of the canal runs alongside environmental concerns. After touring the canal's construction, TechKnow headed out on the Chagres river to hear from biologists and community leaders documenting change in Panama's ecosystem.

Panama is suffering from a drought, prompting water restrictions and forcing the Panama Canal Authority to set limits on the weight of cargo coming through the channels. This could have rippling effects for manufacturers and create setbacks. 

The lake also supplies 80% of the freshwater for Panamanians. Communities are suffering water shortages and bucket available resources for storage during dry weeks. This comes at a contrast with a major transit hub that relies on water for its operations. According to Ariel Rodriguez, a biologist with the University of Panama, “This water is not infinite. And this is a symbol that we have a problem with the quality of water and we need to be careful about how we manage it.”