Engineers have begun working on an ambitious but controversial plan to add a third shipping lane to the Panama Canal.
The planners claim that the 5.25-billion-U.S.-dollar expansion, which will add two new three-chamber locks at either end of the canal, will have little impact on the surrounding environment. But local residents, mindful of the thousands forcibly evacuated during the original canal's construction, remain wary of such promises.
The project commenced with reforestation of a buffer zone that hugs either side of the 51-mile (82-kilometer) waterway. (See a picture gallery of the Panama Canal.)
Together with more efficient water pumps, the new forests are designed to keep the canal's locks full and flowing without the need for new reservoirs—even in the driest of years, according to designers.
That's important because the canal watershed is Panama City's source of drinking water (map of Panama).
Keeping the area's forests healthy is also vital, because of Panama's geographical importance as an isthmus linking North and South America.
As a corridor for migrating species of birds and animals, Panama's habitats are vital for species such as jaguars and eagles that depend on such pathways for survival. (Related: 'Frog Hotel' to Shelter Panama Species From Lethal Fungus [November 2, 2006].)
Monster Ships
The new locks, expected to be completed by 2014—the canal's 100th anniversary—will allow so-called post-Panamax ships to transit the canal.
Panamax is a maritime shipping standard that refers to ships that can fit through the canal's existing locks.
But since the explosion of trade between Asia and the Americas, many carriers are using ships as much as 50 percent wider than Panamax vessels. These giant ships can carry 8,000 cargo containers each.
Allowing such behemoths through the canal could double its annual capacity to more than 60 billion cubic feet (1.7 billion cubic meters) of cargo.
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