WIDE LANE FOR WIDE LOADS: The Christian Science Monitor has published an informative article on the Panama Canal’s now-completed expansion project and what the new “super big ship” capacity means for US natural gas exports to Asia.

The canal expansion opened on June 26 with a third lane that accommodates big ships such as liquified natural gas (LNG) ships, 90 percent of which may now travel across the canal, including those that hold as much as 3.9 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of fuel, according to a report from the US Energy Information Administration released June 30. Along with a new lane, the canal has enlarged its locks that are 180 feet wide and 60 feet deep, compared to the 110-foot wide and 42-foot deep 1914 canal. The project cost a total of $5.25 billion. The previous canal allowed just 6 percent of the current global fleet, or 30 of the smallest LNG tankers who could carry up to 0.7 Bcf of fuel, the report claims. The reduced travel time and transportation costs for LNG shipments could help United States natural gas exports to northern Asia. With the United States’ natural gas economy growing to the world’s third-largest LNG producer by 2020, the expansion could be a new favorite route.

The article says that the “updated Canal” should spur the expansion of American East Coast ports. In late January 1995 I got to open a Panama Canal lock. It was a bit of a thrill to tug one of the brass handles in the lock control room. I was serving a brief Army Reserve tour with SOUTHCOM, which at the time still had its headquarters in Quarry Heights, Panama.