Panama Canal, the Reboot

[Daemon of Decay]

The first shipment of US shale gas is on the way to Asia via the Canal...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...for-first-time

Yeah, but without the spread to justify it, the numbers will be retarded by economic reality.

Also, I need to ask a friend of mine in the shipping industry about the depth of the canal, because I remember something a while back about the depth still being impassible for certain fully laden vessels despite the width adjustment.

[The Doctor]

Yeah, but without the spread to justify it, the numbers will be retarded by economic reality.

Also, I need to ask a friend of mine in the shipping industry about the depth of the canal, because I remember something a while back about the depth still being impassible for certain fully laden vessels despite the width adjustment.

The spread does suck... but, market expansion is a good thing.

LNG tankers require width more than depth. LNG is generally less than half as dense as water.

[Daemon of Decay]

The spread does suck... but, market expansion is a good thing.

LNG tankers require width more than depth. LNG is generally less than half as dense as water.

True. What I think I read was something along the lines of the expansion making the canal wide enough for many dirty/clean product Suezmax vessels... but not deep enough.

In other words, the expansion would enable a number Suezmax ships to use the Panama Canal, but only when partially-filled. Will look into that, because it was weeks ago.