[Cementjungle]

China had first approached Costa Rica about doing a canal project, but Costa Rica declined on worries about ecological issues. China did however build a great new stadium in San Jose (as a gift... but did get some land in the north to use for settlements). China also built the new toll highway from San Jose to the Pacific coast (and has the toll concessions for the next 10 years).

Panama is now getting close to completing the third set of locks which are big enough to handle the latest generation of super tankers.

It'll be interesting to see how this all plays out, but I do think it won't hurt to have a little competition to help keep the canal prices down. As it stands now, it costs well over a hundred thousand dollars for ships to pass through there.

[thackney]

third set of locks which are big enough to handle the latest generation of super tankers.

Not that big.

locks having dimensions of 427 m (1400 ft) in length,
55m (180 ft) in width and
18.3 m (60 ft) in depth,
in order to accommodate larger ships called New Panamax

http://maritime-connector.com/wiki/panamax/

- - - -

The TI Class Super Tankers: The Fantastic Four
http://www.marineinsight.com/marine/the-ti-class-super-tankers-the-fantastic-four/

380 metres lengthwise,
68 metres breadth wise,
34 metres depth wise