Photo courtesy of ThePanamaCanal - Twitter.com
Just thought I'd end this month by sharing these photos of the Panama Canal after a new set of locks opened at the man-made waterway last Sunday. With construction starting in 2007 and having a total price tag of more than $5.4 billion, this expansion will allow much bigger cargo ships (known as Neo-Panamax vessels...which can carry up to 14,000 containers onboard) to travel through this 102-year-old canal on their way from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, or vice versa. China is planning to start construction soon on a new sea route rivaling the Panama Canal that will run through Nicagarua. But 1.) It will be decades before this 173-mile-long canal finally opens, and 2.) I really don't have much respect for the Chinese (despite the fact that it was a Chinese container ship, the COSCO Shipping Panama, that was the first vessel to officially venture through the new locks last weekend). So major props to the Panamanians for upgrading the engineering marvel that runs through their country!
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