The Panama Canal

To get to Barro Colorado Island we took a ferry from Gamboa (where we are staying) up the canal. Given how close we live to the canal (150 m/500 ft), it was nice to actually see some of it. The ride was about 40 minutes, with some interesting sites along the way.

Tugboat!

There are always boats, both small and large, going through the canal. Out of curiousity, I looked up how many vessels transit in a year and found that 14,544 transited in 2012.

Panama Canal Railway locomotive and cargo.

The railway runs between the canal and the schoolhouse, so we often hear trains go by.

The hill shows signs of canal construction, and the barge is hooked up to move sediment along the pipe to the right.

A barge that acts as some sort of hammer, according to my TA, and aptly named Thor.

Buoys demarcate the main channel of the canal. Buoys on the eastern edge of the canal are green and on the western edge are red. Also, the pylons in the background keep reminded me of horses...with two heads...

Pipes and building materials along the edge of the canal, perhaps for the expansion project.

I had not known before I came here that the Panama Canal is currently being expanded. The project began in 2007 and is expected to be completed by 2015. The idea is to expand the canal to allow more and larger boats to transit, particularly supertankers. This involves widening and deepening various parts of the canal as well as building entirely new locks at each entrance to the canal. As one might expect, this will have a considerable impact on global shipping. Interestingly, it's even been in the American news recently regarding some consequences close to home: apparently ports along the east coast are all trying to attract the increased shipping traffic. Including Newark. Plans are in the working to raise the Bayonne Bridge and deepen the channels to accommodate larger ships, but there are also concerns regarding the effects of increased shipping traffic such as pollution from increased trucking. Another instance of the interconnectedness of all things.