Concerns Raised About New Panama Canal Locks After Accidents

摘要

According to the Panama Canal Authority and several workers groups, a Chinese container ship has been damaged after hitting the side of the newly opened third lock. Several workers groups have said the new locks are too small for safe operations and that since the new channel was opened for commercial operations Jun. 26, three ships have been damaged in similar such accidents (NGW Jul.4' 16). The authority is investigating the incidents involving the $5.3 billion waterway. The new locks are critical to the US Gulf Coast LNG industry, allowing large LNG carriers that had been forced to make long voyages the chance to shave weeks off of travel times to Asian markets.