Latest Macro-engineering Stories

Panama Canal Expansion Means Higher Volumes, Larger Vessels, New Trading Patterns SEATTLE, Aug. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the completion of the Panama Canal expansion nears, a number of concerns have surfaced regarding the ability of U.S. ports to keep up with the more aggressive port infrastructure progress witnessed overseas. Colliers International released its North American Port Analysis Report, which highlights the rapid growth of intermodalism - the study of...

Expansion of one of the world's most important shipping routes brings with it a unique opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint of the marine industry, experts claim. Expanded sections of the Panama Canal are due to open in 2014 following an eight-year program to widen and deepen the waterway in order to increase capacity for liner shipping. This will remove the breadth restriction of 32.2m (known as 'panamax' in the shipping industry) that has constrained ships using the canal since...

NEWARK, N.J., March 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The expansion of the Panama Canal, due to be completed in 2014, is one of the world's most ambitious engineering projects in decades, an audacious plan that is sending waves of change across the maritime world. The Journal of Commerce in its Cover Story today profiles the leader behind the expansion, Alberto Aleman Zubieta, Panama Canal Authority CEO and administrator. Comprehensive coverage by Senior Editor Peter T. Leach complements an...

New data suggest that the Limon and Pedro Miguel faults in Central Panama have ruptured both independently and in unison over the past 1400 years, indicating a significant seismic risk for Panama City and the Panama Canal, according to research published Nov. 18 by the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA).The Panama Canal is undergoing expansion to allow for greater traffic of larger ships, scheduled for completion by 2014. As part of a seismic hazard characterization for...

SEATTLE, July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Aconex, the world's largest provider of project collaboration solutions to the construction and engineering industries, has been selected to service the US$3.2 billion Panama Canal Third Set of Locks Project. The web-based Aconex system will provide all the organizations engaged on the program with a central platform for managing information and project communication. The new set of locks, at the heart of the $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal,...

PANAMA CITY, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- After months of rigorous technical review, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) today determined the "best value" proposal for the new set of locks expansion contract. Consortium Grupo Unidos por el Canal composed of Sacyr Vallehermoso S.A., Impregilo S.p.A., Jan De Nul n.v. and Constructora Urbana, S.A. garnered the highest total points for its combined technical and price scores. Three world-renowned consortia competed to win the largest and most important...

A $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal is on time and on target for completion in five years, the head of the canal's supervisory authority says. We are very much on time and on target, Panama Canal Authority chief Alberto Aleman said concerning the project that will allow super-sized tankers to traverse the Central American isthmus between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. The projec is expected to be completed in 2014. When it is done, there...

SEATTLE, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Holland America Line offers an unprecedented number of Panama Canal sailings in 2009, offering 45 total cruises on nine different ships departing from five separate ports. Guests can experience daylight transits of the historic and fascinating Panama Canal and itineraries that feature diverse and intriguing ports of call on voyages. "We've increased our Panama Canal capacity significantly this year to make 2009 a very exciting season, especially with full...

European shipping companies said they are ordering fleets to sail around the tip of Africa to avoid piracy, a move that threatens Egypt's Suez Canal revenues. AP Moller-Maersk, the largest ship owner on the continent of Africa, said Thursday it would send its 83 tankers around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the canal. Norwegian shipping company Odfjell said it would direct 90 chemical tankers around the cape, while Frontline Shipping, the world's biggest tanker company, is considering a...

PLANO, Texas, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As the Panama Canal Authority (Autoridad del Canal de Panama, or ACP) proceeds with its $5.25 billion, seven-year canal expansion project, solutions from ViewCast Corporation (BULLETIN BOARD: VCST) will play an important role in historical documentation and public information. The ACP has chosen ViewCast's Niagara(R) 7224 video encoding system to enable Web streaming of a wide variety of live and on-demand programming related to the expansion...