Nicaragua waterway to dwarf Panama canal

[bbowers2004]

Nicaragua waterway to dwarf Panama canal | World news | The Guardian

Maybe a little competition will let people cross for less than 4k.

[Jimbo485]

4k?????

BS!!!!!

[bbowers2004]

Originally Posted by Jimbo485

4k?????

BS!!!!!

Obviously on the high end, if you have the following....

A. Slow Boat
B. No one to rope handle
C. Need someone to coordinate the crossing for you.
D. Cause any sort of delay (ie...engine stall...etc...)


So I've heard....

I think there are other reasons, but it will just be nice to have a second option. Monopolies aren't good for anything.

[AiniA]

Believe it when it happens. Chinese companies are very good at announcing mega-projects that they do not have the financing for. Recently there was the plan for the largest building in the world in a provincial city. Turned out the company did not have the money, the expertise, or the permits. If this canal is approved by the Nicaraguan government the company will need to do detailed planning and come up with a realistic budget and then find the money.

A second canal would be good but is the demand there? The Panamanians are opening their new locks in a couple of years which will carry bigger ships and greatly increase capacity. BTW, when the first canal was in the early planning stages it was to go through Lake Nicaragua but politics got in the way.

When we went through the canal a few years ago it cost less than $1000 all up with us doing all the arrangements and having enough lines and fenders, among three boats. We were line handlers for each other over two transits. If you want to have an agent organizing everything it will be much larger but hard to imagine $4k.

[Celestialsailor]

It's probably a ploy by the Chinese to get Panama to do some changes for them to the Panama Canal, so they can continue to flood use with their wonderful products.

[K_V_B]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

It's probably a ploy by the Chinese to get Panama to do some changes for them to the Panama Canal, so they can continue to flood use with their wonderful products.

I wonder why the Chinese are that interested. They don't need the Panama (or Nicaragua) canal for access to the US or European markets...

[Paul L]

I seriously doubt the Nicaragua canal will ever be built - at least not in my lifetime. The Canal use is purely a cost vs benefit issue:

Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container shipping company, will stop using the Panama Canal to transport goods from Asia to the U.S. East Coast as bigger ships help the company move them profitably through Suez Canal.
Maersk Line will send through Suez Canal a vessel that can carry as many as 9,000 20-foot boxes at a time, instead of using two 4,500-box-vessels through Panama Canal, Soeren Skou, chief executive officer, said in Singapore yesterday. The last sailing through Panama will be on April 7 and the first service through Suez will be a week later, the company said in an e-mail.
“The economics are much, much better via the Suez Canal simply because you have half the number of ships,” Skou said. “One of the reasons for why this is happening now is that the cost for passing through the Panama Canal has gone up. At the end of the day, it comes down to cost.”

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by bbowers2004

So I've heard....

It was .7k back in 2004. Small boat.

I am surprised it is 4k now.

b.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

It was .7k back in 2004. Small boat.

I am surprised it is 4k now.

b.

It isn't. I think the $4k was put in for dramatic effect.

[goboatingnow]

I wonder why the Chinese are that interested. They don't need the Panama (or Nicaragua) canal for access to the US or European markets...

if you have 800 billion in dollars, you need to spend it somewhere!

[MarkJ]

I think it would be a wonderful project if it goes ahead.
Competition is great for pushing prices down.
The USA will benifit from lower cost of imports, and exports for the East Coast.

Better for everyone in the world.

[barnakiel]

Why do you think the Nicaragua facility (when and if it comes to life) will permit small craft?

I think it will not.

Besides, if Panama charges 4k then Nicaragua will charge 4.4k. All clients will get a 'Welcome to Nicaragua' T-shirt, black (to justify the .4k part). Made in China.

b.

[Kenomac]

Jimmy Carter really messed up by giving back the Panama canal. The second worst president ever.

When my wife and I passed through the locks a couple of years ago, I thought out loud... "how could anyone be that dumb and thoughtless regarding the thousands of Americans who died during the construction." The French had even larger casualty numbers before they gave up.

Carter just gave it to Panama, which wasn't even a country when the canal was constructed. Here you go... it's free. And now we have the high cost to pass through. The cruise ship we were on paid over $375,000 to pass through.... over $125 per passenger.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Jimmy Carter really messed up by giving back the Panama canal. The second worst president ever.

Oh...here we go with the political views again....Ok...it was probably given back through guilt for taking away all the land from the Native Americans.

[svmariane]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Jimmy Carter really messed up by giving back the Panama canal. The second worst president ever.

When my wife and I passed through the locks a couple of years ago, I thought out loud... "how could anyone be that dumb and thoughtless regarding the thousands of Americans who died during the construction." The French had even larger casualty numbers before they gave up.

Carter just gave it to Panama, which wasn't even a country when the canal was constructed. Here you go... it's free. And now we have the high cost to pass through. The cruise ship we were on paid over $375,000 to pass through.... over $125 per passenger.

Bah, humbug. Here's some quick info easily available to anyone doing a bit of research...

The United States used military force and the threat of military force against Colombia (to detach Panama from Colombia) and against the new Panamanian government (to get a better deal for the Panama Canal).

American warships prevented Colombia from responding to Panama's declaration of independence. The new government then appointed the head counsel of the French company as their foreign minister. The minister drafted a treaty that gave Panama a far lower share of the canal revenues than the United States. When the new government balked at the treaty, Secretary of State John Hay warned of "grave consequences" and threatened to send the Marines. The Panamanians soon capitulated.

The Panama Canal had become a fiscal drain by 1970. The canal was squeezed by rising costs due to American mismanagement. The result was that American aid transfers to Panama soon began to overshadow the revenues from the canal.

President Carter's national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, said it best when asked by Congress what would happen if a future Panamanian government shut down the Panama Canal "for repairs." He responded, "In that case, according to the provisions of the Neutrality Treaty, we will move in and close down the Panamanian government for repairs."

The US invested in Panama, made profits, then when profits dropped divested itself. Capitalism at work.