An alternative to the Panama Canal is being proposed by a Florida-based transportation and infrastructure company named Zergratran. The company is seeking to raise $75 mn in funding to provide this alternative route for shipping containers.
The project, named Puerto Internacional Las Americas (PILA) will be an 80-mile tunnel with magnetic propulsion that will be able to transfer containers end to end in about 30 minutes. Fully automated ports on either end of the corridor will load and send the containers between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Colombia. The corridor will be powered by green electricity.
Byron Bennett, CEO of Zergratran, states that the Panama Canal has been a tremendous choke point for maritime traffic, and container ships typically wait 10 to 12 days before being able to pass through. He states that the new corridor would benefit not only decongest the chokepoint but it would also transport the cargo of ships that are too big to cross the canal.
According to the proposed plan, Zergratran would own the ports on both ends of the corridor and will license out the port designs and the crane technology. The company states that PILA is expected to be constructed around 100 miles south of the Panama Canal and will also serve as a distribution center for goods to and from South America.