As the Panama Canal nears the end of a nine-year expansion to accommodate larger ships, the Canal Authority plans to train roughly 250 pilots to operate them. They’re using miniature replicas of tugboats and massive cargo ships . Daniela Hernandez covers the story in the Wall Street Journal.  Read the story and see the video […]

This is an incredible video that shows how Panama Canal Pilots work with California pilots to asses the risk of, and prevent, an incident within the newly expanded Canal.

Michael McDonald and Naureen S. Malik writes for Bloomberg  about the impact that the canal will have on the LNG industry and how Panama is the Hub. Panama said it expects 20 million tons of liquefied natural gas to pass through its canal annually once the newly widened waterway is opened this month. That’s almost […]

Tell me that this is not one of the largest vessels you have seen. The COSCO is headed here to inaugurate the opening of the expanded Panama Canal and we are fortunate for the amount of rain that we have had recently. Recent rain has helped the Panama Canal Authority lift draft restrictions for vessels after […]

The first test runs along the newly expanded Panama Canal began Thursday as tugs nudged the bulk cargo carrier Baroque into the first level of locks on the Atlantic side of the canal. The expanded locks have increased the technical difficulty of maneuvering larger ships through the canal. But some of the challenges were eased […]

I follow Lori Borgman and her writings and I always default back to one of my favorite posts she has done and I am buying the book she wrote with that title. Three yards of black fabric enshroud my computer terminal. I am mourning the passing of an old friend by the name of Common […]

As part of the requirements of the new standard, all drones circulating in the country must be registered with the Civil Aviation Authority. Resolution No. 120/DSA/DJ/DG/AAC: “… REQUIREMENTS OF CERTIFICATION AND SUPERVISION OF OPERATIONS. No operator of an RPA, may perform operations with manned aircraft from a distance according to this Aeronautics Standard, unless they […]

In Panama a contract has been awarded to Meco for the design, construction and operation of a collection and wastewater treatment system in the city of Santiago, Veraguas. The work consists of renovating existing sewerage networks, construction of new networks and collection systems, secondary networks, domestic and intra-domestic connections, pumping stations and a complete and […]

Pineapple exporters claim to have lost $2.3 million since the authorities started making additional inspections of containers at ports of departure. Arguing that in April an increased presence of insects was detected in containers of pineapples exported to the United States, the State Phytosanitary Service (SFE) has tightened control measures, which are no longer limited […]

The consortium designing and building the Panama Canal’s new set of expanded locks says they are working at full capacity and ready to receive their first ships. Grupo Unidos por el Canal SA says the locks were “brought to full operability” Tuesday. GUPC said Wednesday in a statement that the system “works to perfection.” The […]