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Don't Hold Your Breath: This is Panama


Richard in Panama
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A lot of locals have been skeptical about the pushed ahead January 2015 completion date for the Canal Expansion, and now we have a better idea of what that means ... Remember, "TIP" or "This Is Panama" and even the Canal sometimes operates on Panama Time.

 

(Reuters) - Tests with ships will begin in mid-2015 on a new set of locks that are a key component of an expansion of the Panama Canal, the waterway's chief said on Sunday ....

 

The deadline for completion is now January 2016.

 

On Sunday, Panama Canal Administrator Jorge Quijano said the locks would likely be ready, holding water, by April or May of next year.

 

"We hope to start a series of tests with the locks next year in the month of July or August," Quijano said after overseeing the arrival from Italy of a shipment of four new gates for the locks.

 

So ... don't wait to book your Panama Canal cruise! Besides I think the original locks are going to continue to be the favorite of cruise ship passengers. The new locks will have some interesting technical features, and they are in Panama, but ... honestly ... If it's on your bucket list to go through the new locks AND you've already experienced the original locks, or the ship you absolutely must sail on is too big to get through the original locks, OK, but I think there are going to be so many big, profitable ships going through the new locks, the LPG containers to China, the super container ships, that most cruise ships are going to continue to use the original locks.

 

Regards, Richard

Edited by Richard in Panama
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