Neo-Panamax future

摘要

Jorge Quijano joined the Panama Canal Administration (ACP) in 1975, first as an engineer in charge of maintenance work and later becoming the Administrator charged with overseeing the $5.2bn Expansion project that will see a new third set of locks inaugurated on June 26. Quijano recalls that it was around 1997/8 that the ACP started looking at the next phase of modernisation and expansion of the Canal, and soon realised that it was time to 'come up with a new concept, or add a new product as I call it.' A key incident was when he accompanied his predecessor as Administrator, Alberto Aleman, on a trip to London around then and heard Maersk expounding on the need for larger, more economic and therefore greener vessels, a trend that the ACP realised others would follow.