Panama: maxinave inaugurates channel commerce revolution – ANSA.it

(Alfonso Blacks) (ANSA) – PANAMA, June 26 – The giant Cosco Shipping seas, 300 meters by 50 with over 10,000 containers on board, has inaugurated the new Panama Canal, cutting the ribbon at the entrance Atlantic closed to local 7.48. Seven years of work, forty thousand people in the yards, six billion dollars in spending. They are just the numbers enlargement of the Panama Canal, ie the new locks on the Pacific side is both the Atlantic that allow the passage of ships with a capacity more than three times the current. The work – inaugurated in the presence of Panamanian President Varela who called in the Central American country heads of state and governments of many nations – is from the engineering point of view, and not only that, the most ambitious ever made in the world. And it is very ‘made in Italy’. the sluice gates constructed of Cimolai, the technological heart of the project are in fact Italian that allowed unexpectedly beat the US competition to renew what has been done by the US at the beginning of the century. It is the operating software and many of the special materials of construction, is the operation guide of the Italian Salini Impregilo that in 48% of the construction consortium to equal the Spanish Sacyr, just over two years ago unlocked the dispute with Panama. At least to conclude its work. “Seven years ago – said the CEO of Salini Impregilo, Pietro Salini -iniziava for us on a long journey which represented a synthesis between dreams and challenges that every entrepreneur and every man wants to experience once in your life: carry out the work capable of changing world trade “Now for international arbitration on nearly three billion overruns certificates, whose first results gave reason to the builders, it will take years, but in the meantime the revolution of the world’s maritime trade began. The new canal locks will be able to pass ships with a load of up to 14 thousand containers against the current maximum of 4,400. To build them have changed the arsenals over the world, while the Pacific and Atlantic ports – especially the US – have already made giant works to accommodate the new boats, with an induced generated about 20 times the cost of the work, so more than 100 billion dollars. Some change even for Italy? “Yes, if you will grasp,” answer the industry. The widening of the Panama Canal coincides with that of Suez, and could put the Mediterranean at the center of many routes. Today in the ‘mare nostrum’ transits 19% of world traffic by volume and 25% by route. Italy is third in Europe for goods traffic with 473 million tons and the first in EU countries in the short range. In twenty years the number of containers handled in the 30 largest ports in the Mediterranean increased by 425% with an average rate of 21% per annum. But they serve novelties, both in port authorities both in infrastructure: Gioia Tauro and Genoa handle over two million containers, but they are far from direct competitors Valencia, Algeciras and Port Said. All other Italian airports are under one million containers per year. (ANSA).