Aspects concerning the moderniz ation of the Panama Canal in [604267]

Aspects concerning the moderniz ation of the Panama Canal in
the context of the optimization of the maritime transport
services
A R Anghel 1
1 Navigation and Naval Management Departament, “Mircea cel Batran” Naval
Academy, 1 st Fulgerului Street, Constan ța, 900218, Romania
Email:[anonimizat]
Abstract . In the context of the modernisation of the Panama Canal
I considered important to conduct a study on its consequences in the
optimisation of maritime transport s ervices.It is presented a comparative
analysis fr om the point of view of t he new technical specifi cations and rules of
sailing, the new taxes to transit th e channel as well as the important from the
point of view of the decreasing the shipping routes.
Keywords: Panama Canal, rules of sailing , maritime transport, taxes to t ransit
the channel, vessel.
1. Introduction
The idea of building the Pana ma Canal came in the sixteent h century and the actual construction
was completed after the works were taken over by the USA, the i nauguration taking place in 1914 [1]
The Panama Channel connects the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean and is a highly important
route in maritime transport for over 100 years, ensuring fluidi zation in worldwide maritime transport.
The Channel is divided in five sectors, respectively, the first one stretches from the defending piers
situated in Limon, owned by the Atlantic Ocean until the Gatun Lake. Here, the first set of locks
named Gatun Locks are found. Followed by, the second sector is found comprised between the exits
from Gatun Locks to the entrance of Culebra massif. The third s ector is named Gaillard Sailing Line in
which the minimum width is 300 meters and the water depth is 90 meters.
By the utilization of Pedro Miguel locks, descends from the lev el of Miraflores Lake, to the fourth
sector reaching on the navigable channel called Rio Grande at t he level of Pacific Ocean waters. The
last sector starts at the entrance of the Rio Grande navigable channel and it ends near the Balboa Port
located in the area of Panama City.
The Panama Channel is equipped with the biggest locks in t he world, ensuring a difference in level
of 26 meters between the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean. Goin g into bankruptcy, the French
company who started the construction of the Canal in 1880 gave away the mission to continue the
work to another company who registered another failure in 1900 as a result of illnesses who affected
the area, and also the financial struggles they would later fac e. In 1903 when Panama broke up from
Colombia, a treaty was signed with the United States of America by which they gave up a piece of its
territory, measuring 50 Mm in length and 10 Mm in width, who be came Panamanian territory starting
with 1st of October 1979, but USA kept the role of the administrator of the Canal.[1]
Over the years, due to the evolution of shipbuilding, the modernization of the Channel has been
imposed to allow the transit of n ew ships called Neo-Panamax wi th daily flow optimisation through

the Canal, at the same time the necessity to increase vessels t hrough it was also due to the
transformation suffered by the Suez Canal. The project was prop osed in 2006 and aimed at doubling
the capacity of the Channel by adding a new traffic line and al so raising the number of vessels with
superior dimensions who can transit through it.
The expansion of the Panama Channel has begun in September 2007 and was finished in May
2016.

Panama Canal [2]
2. The evolution of the Panama Canal
The Panama Channel stretche s over an approximate length of 80 kilometres including five major
sectors, in the northern part there is the Cristobal Port situa ted at the Atlantic Ocean and at the
southern side the Balboa port , belonging to the Pacific Ocean.
The width of the Panama Channel is between 91 and 300 meters an d the minimum depth is 12.5
meters. The daily number of loc kage reaches up to 48meters.
Before the modernization, south to the Cristobal Port, the ship s which arrived could be lifted up to
the level of Gatun Lake with help from the first set of locks. The dimensions of Gatun locks were,
3048,8 meters in length and 35,55 meters in width, imposing the vessels maximum lengths of 294,1
meters, and a maximum width of 32,3 meters, and also the draft in freshwater did not have to exceed
12 meters.[1]
Gatun Lake of whose length exceeds the average length of the Ca nal was created by the
impoundment of Chagres River and was used for anchoring of ship s and fluidizing the traffic on both
ways, in a climate of tropical jungle
No other criterion is as important as the time economy, optimiz ing the maritime transport by
shortening the waterways and the much faster delivery of freigh t, concurrently with the reduction of
fuel costs.
2.1 Particularities of the new set of locks and implications in the evolution of shipbuilding
The new set of locks are located, one on the Atlantic Ocean si de called Agua Clara, and the other
one on the Pacific side called Cocoli. Both are adjacent to alr eady existing locks. They are made from
reinforced concrete, and have le ngths over a mile and a half ea ch, the chambers have 427 meters in
length, 18 meters depth and 55 meters width. They are equipped with Miter locking gates which
include pivot spaces that allow a ship to accommodate and prote ct when opening and closing.

New set of Panama Canal locks [3],[4]

Each set of locks has wing-type walls, locking heads, wat er-saving basins, valve gates, electrical
systems, control systems and mechanical systems required for op eration and maintenance. This
locking system allows a fully operational transit for Post Pana max vessels in both navigation
directions.
Regarding the constructive evolu tion of ships that transited th e Panama Channel, the Panamax type
ships are more noticed, having 294,13 meters in length, widths of 32,31 meters, a draft of 12,04
meters, followed by New Panamax type ships with lengths of 366 meters, 49 meters in width and
draft of 15,2 meters and last but not least the Post Panamax sh ips with 385,6 meters in length, a width
of 53,9 meters and a draft of 15,2 meters.[1]
2.2Aspects concerning the modernization of Panama Canal in the context of maritime
transport services.
The aim of modernizing the Panama Canal was to expand the capacity of the channel, to develop
the maritime transport and to d iversify its commercial business activities.
With the changes to the Panama Ca nal, in order to allow the tra nsit of the Neopanamax ships, the
ports in the United States had to adapt to the new dimensional characteristics of the ships that are now
in transit. Thus, most of the lar ge harbors in the United State s of America, especially those on the East
Coast, have engaged in dredging to increase the depth of waterw ays and to be able to operate larger-
scale vessels up to 15- 16 meters. T hey also had to modernize t heir port infrastructure and increase the
terminal operating capability to ha ndle a much larger number of containers simulta neously with the
new dimensions of the channel locks.
In the context of globalization and spectacular development of vessels transport capacity, the
implementation of new constructiv e solutions for the Panama Can al led to an impressive growth of
freight traffic simultaneously with reducing the waiting time f or transiting the canal and applying new
safety rules. It is noted that approximately 65% of ships with the biggest dimensions are annually
transiting the canal optimising over 200 worldwide maritime rou tes.
Reducing the CO2 pollution in th e context of maritime transport was implemented by the Authority
of Panama Canal by utilizing a type of software that generates gas emissions depending on the type of
vessel and on the particularities of the ware that is being tra nsported.
Mega yachts are transiting the Panama Canal for over 20 years.
Regarding the traffic restrictions through the Panama Channel, these are determined by the
technical characteristics of ships, as well as the type of frei ght transported. Large ships must pay
additional charges that include possible risks. Such vessels ar e container ships, passenger ships,
vehicle carriers, LPG and LNG ships.
Also, from the category of traffic restrictions, those in relat ion with canal transit at day-time and
night-time or by the period of th e year when the transit takes place, can also be exemplified.
3. The comparative analysis of w ares traffic through the Panama Canal.
The transit fee for the Panama Canal is calculated accordi ng to the ship’s type and size, as well as
the transported wares.
In the following, the comparative analysis for the period of 20 15-2018 of the traffic of ships that
transited the Panama Canal is presented.
In the year of 2016, once with the extension of the Panama Cana l, the maritime traffic of ships that
transited it, tripled. Compared to the year of 2015 the transit of ships through the Canal recorded an
increase by 5.5% over the previous year. It is noted that 50% o f the total collected fees for the channel
transit has come from container ships, which means an approxima tely 2.9% traffic of this type of
vessel.
LPG and LNG vessels that transited the Canal were approximately 7%. Bulkers that transited the
area were approximately 18.4% more than the previous year. The total number of ships recorded
through the Panama Canal in 2016 was 11,684. [6]

Taking into account the type of goods that transited the c hannel will be illustrated, in table 1,
expressed in long tones, a comparative analysis for the years 2 015 and 2016.
These are drawn in figure 1.

Wares Petroleum Grains Chemical s Nitrates Refrigerated Contain er Coal Ores Steel Others
2015 41,3 53 14,2 7,1 3,1 41 10,2 14,3 6,1 2,6
2016 41,8 41,5 16,7 7,4 2,7 41,4 8,2 11,3 5,3 4,3

Table 1

41,3
14,2
7,1
3,1
4110,214,36,1532,6
41,8
16,7
7,4
2,741,48,211,35,341,54,3

Figure 1

In 2017 it was found an increase by 3.3% of ships who transited t h e C a n a l c o m p a r e d t o t h e
previous year. Of these, only ships using routes from the ports of East Coast of USA and ports
belonging to Asia, or Central America have recorded a percent o f 22.2% from the total. Container
ships registered, in the same year 35.3%. The LPG type vessels traffic represented 29% and the LNG
type vessels 9% while the oil tankers recorded approximately 1. 3%. The total ship transit registered
through the Panama Canal in 2017 was 11,992. [5]
In 2018 the highest vessel traffic which transited the Panama C anal was registered on the routes
between the ports situated on the East Coast of SUA and ports f rom Asia.
The data presented in table 2, expressed in long tones, present s a comparative analysis for 2017 and
2018 for the most representative wares which were operated thro ugh the Panama Canal.

60
15,1
8,3
2,455 617,6126,941,54,3
71,9
17,2
10,9
2,3
6918,511,76,328,35

Figure 2

Wares Petroleum Grains Chemical s Nitrates Refrigerated Contain er Coal Ores Steel Others
2017 60 41,5 15,1 8,3 2,4 55,6 17,6 12 6,9 4,3
2018 71,9 28,3 17,2 10,9 2,3 69 18,5 11,7 6,3 5

Table 2

From the point of view of Neopanamax type ships it is noted tha t container ships have registered in
this year a traffic increase through the Canal by 49%, LPG type vessels represented 24% and LNG
type vessels were 12%. Panamax type container ships have regist ered in the same year traffic of 14%.
The total transit registered through the Panama Canal in 2018 w as 12,199.
4. Conclusions
This paper could be finished with some conclusions which w e highlighted in the furthered.
The expansion of the Panama Cha nnel has made it possible to opt imize ship traffic and optimize
maritime transport. Gas pollution has also been reduced by intr oducing new software, upgrading
vessels from a constructive point of view, and improving channe l traffic. A new set of locks with
superior performance was implemented compared to the original o nes that the channel had.
The comparative analysis for the period 2015-2018 revealed sign ificant developments.
Finally, I can say that this work can be a starting point for d eveloping a future study in the field, both
for students and for informing port authorities.
References
[1] http://www.pancanal.com/eng/
[2] https://www.eldonthompson.com/images/Panama-09.jpg\
[3] http://laestrella.com.pa/economia/c amara-maritima-respalda-cana l-pleito-contratista/23913955
[4] http://mfame.guru/panama-canal-fitting-new-locks/
[5] https://micanaldepanama.com/expa nsion/2017/10/panama-canal-sets -record-annual-cargo-
tonnage-in-fiscal-year-2017/
[6] https://www.pancanal.com/eng/ge neral/reporte-anual/2017-AnnualR eport.pdf