.jpg&w=693&h=296&crop=1 "Lake Nicaragua - Cocibolca")
Nicaragua last Monday approved a proposed route for a shipping channel to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that would rival the Panama Canal, in a US$40 billion project that although according to experts is feasible from the technical point of view, raised many questions regarding its economic viability and, most of all, environmental concerns, as the channel would pass through Lake Nicaragua (also known as Lake Cocibolca), Central America’s largest source of sweet water.
If all experts agree that building a channel through Nicaragua is technically feasible, the project is also raising many questions.
Gustavo Toubes, of the Argentine Association of Naval Engineers, said that the Association was puzzled due to the lack of environmental studies “as well as the lack of economic studies projecting scenarios for the next 30 years. “The launching of the Nicaragua project is remarkable considering that the Panama Canal is offering good services. Furthermore, is it being expanded.”
Martínez, for his part, said that currently, commodities freight fees were “not flourishing. I wonder whether time savings through the projected Nicaragua Canal will compensate the fees.”
He also highlighted that there is no much information regarding the size of ships that would fit in the new channel. “To say that the channel will have a maximum width of 520 metres doesn’t mean much. The Panama Canal in its current shape has a 300-metre width but the limitation comes from its 32.25-metre wide locks.
“It would be logical to think that if the Nicaragua Canal would be 27-metre deep, it would be simply clumsy not to builds locks that would accommodate present and future large vessels.