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If the Panama Canal gets a rival

worldif.economist.com

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Re: If the Panama Canal gets a rival

#41

Post by pvaldes »

BurningFrog wrote: post #32
realityking wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pray tell, why do you have a carrier in the Indian Ocean?

The US is to a quite good approximation, the only naval power on the planet.

It depends on what we call "naval power".

China is probably the country of the planet with more "naval muscle" in fact. The chinese fishership float is huge and vital for their economy (because the very lucrative Chinese Acuaculture depends on the world marine fisheries).

So instead to having a big militar float to justify spending ridiculous amounts of tax money in ruinous wars created here and there, China have a big civil float to earn big money with fisheries and commerce... in the face of the other countries.

Re: If the Panama Canal gets a rival

#42

Post by donarb »

dghughes wrote: post #38

How well could an ocean-going ship float in freshwater lake Nicaragua? And I doubt the lake would stay clear after ships drag in seawater.

Probably just as good as it does in Gatun Lake in the Panama Canal.

Ships would "drag" in very little salt water because the lakes are above sea level. Since locks operate using gravity the water flows back out to sea.

Re: If the Panama Canal gets a rival

#43

Post by lisper »

Everyone seems to be focusing on the economic and environmental issues but missing the elephant in the room. Even the original article misses the mark:

> After all, what wouldn’t China pay to see one of its naval fleets one day emerging from the Central American jungle right under America’s nose?

It's not what China would pay to have its naval fleets traverse the canal, it's what China would pay to have a legitimate-sounding reason to have its naval fleet stationed at either end. It's a similar motivation for building those artificial islands in the South China Sea. The canal itself is a red herring.

Re: If the Panama Canal gets a rival

#44

Post by ceequof »

chadlung wrote: post #5

Looking at the proposed map of the canal how does this work when Lake Nicaragua [1] is freshwater? Even with locks I'm guessing salt water from the sea will slowly contaminate (seep) into the lake causing big changes for the ecosystem and local population. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nicaragua

Gatún Lake of the Panama Canal is also freshwater, at 26m elevation.

Generally, the big risk with elevated freshwater lakes connected to the sea by locks isn't saltwater contamination, but the disastrous flood that would happen if all the lock gates were opened at the same time. A lot of work was put into the safety measures, most of which have been removed due to cost in recent decades: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_locks#Safety_feat...

If a flight of locks was completely opened, Gatún would promptly drain out of them, wiping out everything downstream. You could imagine the entire canal would be offline for months to years as infrastructure was rebuilt and the lake was refilled by rainwater.

Re: If the Panama Canal gets a rival

#45

Post by BurningFrog »

pvaldes wrote: post #41
BurningFrog wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is to a quite good approximation, the only naval power on the planet.

It depends on what we call "naval power". China is probably the country of the planet with more "naval muscle" in fact. The chinese fishership float is huge and vital for their economy (because the very lucrative Chinese Acuaculture depends on the world marine fisheries). So instead to having a big militar float to justify spending ridiculous amounts of tax money in ruinous wars created here and there, China have a b…

I'm talking about naval military power.

Re: If the Panama Canal gets a rival

#46

Post by InclinedPlane »

BurningFrog wrote: post #31
InclinedPlane wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 2015, fleets don't move without being observed today. Every major power has surveillance satellites specifically designed for keeping track of naval fleets. A Chinese fleet rushing around the world on a provocative trajectory toward the continental US is going to gain a lot of attention and a lot of company very rapidly.

To monitor an inland canal you just need a guy and a lawn chair.

Also, the idea that any country in central America would intentionally make an enemy of the US for a little money is not entirely believable.
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