Panama Canal Expansion Illustrates Need for Multimodal Near-Source Air Quality Assessment

摘要

Expansion of the Panama Canal, with the third set of locks expected to be complete in 2015, is anticipated to catalyze change in the United States multimodal freight transportation sector. The expansion will enable the passage of "post-Panamax" ships containing approximately 2.5 times the TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit - a measure of shipping containers) of the previously largest ship ("Panamax") able to pass through the canal. Impacting primarily trans-Pacific trade with United States destinations, which was forecasted to grow at a nontrivial amount of 7.2% annually from 2005 to 2015, a diversion of post-Panamax ships from western to eastern ports may have reverberating impacts on regional economies and the multimedia environment. Among environmental concerns, an uncharacterized and compelling issue is local air pollution in areas near expanding ports and along the related freight transportation networks.