The big day of the New Panama Canal has finally come. The 26th of June, 2016, the new way has been inaugurated with an official ceremony, celebrated with the container ship “COSCO Shipping” crossing, a huge Chinese container ship of 300 meters by 50 with over 10,000 containers on board. The ship entered into the new canal through the inlet of the Atlantic Ocean; overcoming the “Agua Clara” lock; crossing the Gatu’n lake and Cocolì lock, showing itself up to the meeting with the President of the Panama Republic Juan Carlos Varela and other international representatives, after almost ten hours trip, with the Pacific Ocean eyes ahead.
We are talking about one of the largest shipyards in the world, one of the most important engineering project of the last 100 years, with a top level combination of raw materials and technology with impressive numbers:
- 1.6 million tons of cement,
- 292.000 tons of structural steel,
- 74 million m3 of excavation,
- 5 million m3 of concrete,
- N ° of containers moved from 4,400 to 12,600,
- 60% of water saving for each locks crossing,
- 11.500 people involved,
- about 6 billion dollars spent.
A seven years project long, with the Italian entrepreneurs as project leader, thanks to a consortium managed by Salini Impregilo involved in the operational managing of the work, with Cimolai which took care of the 16 steel sluice gates manufacturing (about 4000 tons each) and thanks to SIRTEF, which with Verope special steel wire ropes and Crosby sheaves helped to realize the opening system for the gates of the new locks, ensuring the structure efficiency 24 hours a day for all year long, thanks to the maintenance kit of the steel wire ropes movement system and connected accessories.
Credits: first picture www.panorama.it
