Russian Warship Transits Panama Canal

[The Chief]

First Russian warship transit since 1944, when 4 Soviet Ships used the canal, the Admiral Chabanenko transits the Panama Canal.

http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/34362

See related article, somewhat dated, on China's control of the Panama Canal.

http://www.eagleforum.org/psr/1999/nov99/psrnov99.html

 

[nittany03]

An Udaloy. Whoopdee doo. WASEX anyone?

 

[eddie]

Russians go home. No one love you now that you don't have Soviete moneys to give away.

Eddie Drunk... legally.

 

[onedge]

I am certain they are being politely monitered. Just so no one gets hurt or anything.

 

[Uncle Fester]

Semi-threadjack, but: anyone else know that they're expanding the Canal? Apparently they're in the middle of a big project to build a third set of parallel locks and dredge out the channels in order to get back the very-big-boat business. If you've never been, the Canal locks are the main limiting factor in the size of ships that can transit.

The new lock’s chambers will be 427 m (1,400’) long, by 55 m (180’) wide, and 18.3 m (60’) deep. They will use rolling gates instead of the miter gates used by the existing locks. Rolling gates are used in almost all existing locks with dimensions similar to those being proposed and are a well-proven technology. The new locks will use tugboats to position the vessels instead of locomotives. As in the case of the rolling gates, tugs are successfully and widely utilized for these purposes in locks of similar dimensions.

That's big enough to accommodate a Nimitz-class, incidentally.

Canal Expansion Proposal

 

[Gatordev]

I am certain they are being politely monitered.

Yes they are...very closely.

Semi-threadjack, but: anyone else know that they're expanding the Canal?

A good friend of mine works for one of the companies that's part of this whole thing. He sent me a .ppt a while back w/ some of the planning. Pretty interesting engineering problem to solve.

 

[Junkball]

Yes they are...very closely.

A good friend of mine works for one of the companies that's part of this whole thing. He sent me a .ppt a while back w/ some of the planning. Pretty interesting engineering problem to solve.

So according to the OP's article on Chinese control of the canal, shouldn't the People's Canal Digging Company No. 1 get the first shot at the expansion job?

 

[Gatordev]

So according to the OP's article on Chinese control of the canal, shouldn't the People's Canal Digging Company No. 1 get the first shot at the expansion job?

You would think, but those Chinese are very sneaky.

 

[Gatordev]

Russians go home. No one love you now that you don't have Soviete moneys to give away.

Eddie Drunk... legally.

Just so I can keep track, what year are you now?

gatordev drunk....and old.

 

[eddie]

Just so I can keep track, what year are you now?

gatordev drunk....and old.

Good times!

I'm a junior now, but I still feel like a freshmen.

 

[Flash]

So according to the OP's article on Chinese control of the canal, shouldn't the People's Canal Digging Company No. 1 get the first shot at the expansion job?

Contrary to popular belief the Chinese do not own or have significant influence on the Panama Canal.

 

[Flugelman]

Contrary to popular belief the Chinese do not own or have significant influence on the Panama Canal.

I'm curious as to what you base this on, Flash. ADM Moorer thought differently as far back as 1999 and I have been seeing articles over the years that contradict your premise.

 

[Flash]

I'm curious as to what you base this on, Flash. ADM Moorer thought differently as far back as 1999 and I have been seeing articles over the years that contradict your premise.

The Panama Canal Authority, an autonomous Panamanian government agency, runs the canal and the funding for it largely comes fees for transiting it. While a Hong Kong based company has contracts to run the ports on both sides of the canal, it does not translate into control of who goes through it. There has been no impediment to our operations through the canal and there has been no 'Chinese invasion'.

 

[Uncle Fester]

The Canal is pretty much the economy of Panama nowadays. They're not going to cede control of it to any other country lightly. Hell, we don't have all that much influence and we built the goddamned thing.

Is it possible the Chinese are using their contacts for intelligence purposes? I'd say yes...there were certainly a lot of COSCO buildings overlooking the locks and the old Rodman base when my boat was operating out of there in 2000.

 

[Brett327]

I'm curious as to what you base this on, Flash. ADM Moorer thought differently as far back as 1999 and I have been seeing articles over the years that contradict your premise.

That essay (it's not an article - op-ed at best) is ridiculous, alarmist - outrageous!

Brett