The Panamanians will get their canal- but will it be worth the hassle?
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from September 1981.
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No ship of more than 65,000 deadweight tons (DWT) can now make the (50-mile) passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans because of capacity restrictions in the canal lock systems. The increase in size of many trading vessels such as supertankers has meant that many ships are forced to go round the tip of South America.
The additional two weeks at sea for ships such as a 200,000 DWT vessel work out cheaper than sending the cargo in. smaller ships through the canal
This became even more important in the 1970s when the cost of fuel rocketed.
The canal will be handed over completely to the Panamanian authorities by the year 2000 under 1977 treaties with the United States and part of the deal was a joint study of ways to ensure the waterway's future.
Fernando Manfredo, deputy administrator of the Canal Commission, told Reuters that two long-term alternatives were being considered.
"We can build a new set of far bigger, parallel locks and use part of the present waterway or we can replace it with a sea-level canal" he said.
Mr. Manfredo said either of those schemes would require massive funding -- up to $15 billion for a completely new canal and a number of countries would have to be involved.
"A small country like ourselves could never shoulder such a financial burder," he said, nothing that Panama would be in sole charge of the canal before any such projects were finished. But the canal's immediate future appears more certain as, despite the fears of many U.S. politicians, Washington's phased withdrawal from the region has not resulted in a drop in efficiency.
An eight per cent increase in tonnage passing through the canal was reported last year and this will rise even more when current improvements are completed. About 40 vessels pass along the canal each day and these "transits" as they are called, will increase to 45 within a few years, Mr. Manfredo said. But he admitted that such cosmetic operations are not enough for Panama to regain its once unquestionable monopoly in sea traffic between the world's two biggest oceans. "We provide a service which we ourselves do not really need but is indispensible to the rest of the maritime world," he said. He said that if the canal were radically improved or a sea-level one built, vessels of up to 250,000 DWT could pass through but that the problems involved are enormous. "Thousands of people would have to be rehoused, huge new water supplies for the bigger locks would have to be secured, and a tidal wall would be needed if a sea-level waterway was constructed" he said.
Mr. Manfredo also pointed out that the Pacific is slightly higher than the Atlantic and a direct link, without locks, would mean strong tidal currents and unpredictable effects on marine life. The United States and Japan, providing the canal with more than 75 per cent of its throughtrade, are the most likely backers of a new canal and a number of delegations from Tokyo have visited anama this year.
Mr. Manfredo said he envisaged continued economic involvement in the canal by the U.S. well after its formal departure date because of the cost of such schemes.
Panama is benefiting from its increased role in running the canal with an annual income now of about $75 million compared with $2.3. million a few years ago when it was completely under U.S. control.
Panamanians now make up about 80 per cent of the 8,000-strong canal workforce -- a share that will increase as the handover date approaches. The one major Panamanian complaint is that the binational commission now running the waterway is less financially autonomous than the old Panama Canal Company.
"Our commission has to report to the U.S. Congress on virtually every cent we spend something I think unnecessary and restricting," Mr. Manfredo said.
Many local U.S. officials agree and are pressing Washington to loosen its control on the budget, about $450 million this year.
