Check out CyberGhost VPN at www.cyberghostvpn.com/MegaBuilds and you will get 84% off CyberGhost VPN. That's $2.03/month and 4 months free! It's risk-free with their 45-day money-back guarantee. Thanks to CyberGhostVPN for sponsoring the video! (Sponsored) What do you think, will the Nicaragua Canal ever be built? 🤔 And what other megaprojects should we cover next?
You missed a few interesting tidbits about the Panama canal such as the fact that Panama was actually part of Columbia and the US supported it's succession in order to free the canal for US use and that the French company that had gone broke was led by the same person who built the Suez but mismanaged the Panama canal so badly he was thrown in prison for fraud (selling shares in project several times to generate cash flow and still barely got started). Good video, anyway!
The *_FRESH WATER_* is the primary concern here. The majority of the population lives near the lake and depend upon it for their drinking water. Contamination of the lake would be catastrophic for the economy, and far worse, the people.
You didn't mention about the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty that was signed between Nicaragua and the United States on August 5, 1914. It gave the United States full rights over any future canal built through Nicaragua. By the terms of the treaty, the United States acquired the rights to any canal built in Nicaragua in perpetuity, a renewable 99year option to establish a naval base in the Gulf of Fonseca, and a renewable 99-year lease to the Great and Little Corn Islands in the Caribbean. For those concessions, Nicaragua received $3 million. At the request of Nicaragua, the United States under Richard Nixon and Nicaragua under Anastasio Somoza Debayle held a convention, on July 14, 1970, that officially abolished the treaty and all its provisions.
I am surprised you didn’t mention the Panama Canel expansion project which was completed in 2016 that allowed the new neopanamax ships to go through the panama canal. These new ships dramatically reduce the capacity gaps. This changed the economic equation making the Nigaraguan Canal even less economically feasible.
Not really. While the canal was being expanded, container ships were being built that already would exceed its newer size. And the water is just a seasonal thing. The news doesn't report when there's excess water, because there are less views with good news and no one can sell doom and gloom when times are good. This could create a competition lowering tolls, which is where you determine your profits.
Panama enlarged their canal to meet the demand of the Panamax shipowners. What if Panama had said: Thk's but no thk's ! And told the shipowner to show the money. There would probably not have been any Panamax ship built and the Panama canal would still be operating at maximum water availability. Money talks loud and is always heard by its friend,...greed,...sometimes beyond reason !
Turning a 100 Metre wide section of the lake into a separate waterway alongside the bank would seem easier and cheaper than digging a canal while retaining the rest of the lake as fresh water.
Shipping across the lake isn't even the biggest problem. Connecting it to the oceans is. Once the canal is operational, the lake will be flooded with saltwater, eliminating it as a freshwater source and completely changing its ecosystem. This is basically the opposite effect of what happened to the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal. Before the canal was built, the Bitter Lake was a lot saltier than either of the two adjoining oceans. "Experts" expected this to prevent the migration of life forms from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean. Well, it did for a couple of decades. But by now, the salinity of the lake is the same as in the Red Sea. And the Mediterranean has become the new home of several invasive species.
@@herrhartmann3036 Elevation of the lake must be higher than the ocean level. They will be connected through the chain of gates. No sea water would be able to get upstream.
@@ruslankadylak2999 Sooner or later.. after decades.. there will be a build up of salt water from the Pacific Ocean and salt water from the Atlantic Ocean. There is only one option.. Dredge an entire independant canal from the West Coast to the East Coast of Nicaragua.
I'm not against the construction of Nicaragua canal but maybe it will dry up the fresh water of that beautiful big lake and for sure it will contaminate the lake, Nicaragua must protect that lake for today and for the future of Nicaraguans who live by,
No it will not. Because they can build step by step canal to allow ship pass the canal without spill sl much the water to ocean . It can use bernouli principle to lift up and lift down the big ship.
The US after previous actions to prevent it from being built seemed to have failed they probably had him eliminated & China hasn’t said anything because they don’t want to admit the US was able to secretly delete someone on Chinese soil & they weren’t able to intervene or prevent it.
Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt's ships for several years in the 19th Century used the Nicaraguan route, minus the canal between the lake and the Pacific Ocean. Even he, however, couldn't muster the cash to build that last link.
Any plan that involves routing salt water into a fresh water lake , especially Lake Nicaragua must be stopped immediately . Lake Nicaragua is a "FRESH WATER LAKE" . If any canal routes salt water from the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans into any fresh water lake it will absolutely kill the lake . The plan to have a second canal to cross the country of Panama must go back to the drawing board and be moved much much farther south so that salt water does not enter Lake Nicaragua . Also , millions of people rely on Lake Nicaragua for fresh water .
It will certainly be a reality soon. It's easier to build custom ice breakers to lead ships through the few areas of ( not so thick any more ) ice. The weather is pretty severe, though, through the Bearing Straight. It's not as simple as it first looks. But Canada and the U.S. are 100% committed to making it work as it's a potential game-changer for their countries. No locks, no issues of pollution, just a way to clear the ice. As of writing this, the passage is actually open and clear water - and is expected to remain so for about 6-7 more weeks.
@@plektosgaming I lived in Nome for a few years between 1950 and 1953. That would have been a shock to everyone... watching a "train" of ships passing by. We'd get one cargo ship per year in the summer, and we had to place our orders with Sears and Roebuck mail order companies to be delivered the next summer. A lot of thought and "wishing/planning" were struggled through for each year's order. That year long wait was just torture, especially for the kids. It's certainly an interesting idea... just don't let the Chinese investors get involved!!! They're already working their way into central America.
The north west passage will never be a passage from Europe to the orient. You can sometimes use the passage in the late summer but even this is questionable. In the winter with temperatures going into the -60 C it will never work!
I live on Lake Nicaragua. This proposed project would be a Enviromental disaster of global proportions to Central America and the world. Let’s pray it never actually occurs.
I have been in Nicaragua in the 1980s. I was working as a volunteer in the Sandanista times . The earthquake and Revolution vastly added to Nicaraguas economic problems ! The canal would help pull you out of poverty ! The river and lake are already there so how could completing a canal be such an environmental problem that you would prefer not to seize this golden opportunity ?
@@and__lam1152Water still flows down hill. A canal does not bring the ocean into the lake. However, it may drain the lake unnaturally and prematurely into the Pacific.
Congrats on over 1 Million Subscribers. Been with you guys since before 100k and have learned a lot! Keep up the great work (And STRAIGHTEN those classic books!)
It seems to me that a high speed, freight-container, rail line shuttling back and forth between Atlantic and Pacific would be a much cheaper solution. If the trains were designed to rapidly load/unload cargo containers and powered by electricity, I think there would be much less environmental damage.
Sea travel is much cheaper than land travel. Where would all this electricity come from? Wind turbines that destroy the environment to get built and can't be recycled? Or nuclear energy which is clean and efficient, but has a scary name?
I think he mentioned half a billion tons a year of goods, and more is needed. I don't that could be done by rail, but I've never checked. But the loading off ships on one side, then onto land, then back to ships on the other side...jeez. And even with trucks, same load cycle. Plus fuel. And with all that loading; the number of accidents, deaths, labor...
When you consider that just a single ship can carry *20,000* containers and that a canal can handle multiple ships per day, you can start to see why a rail-based solution could never compete :-/
The U.S Ain´t let that happend bc the Panama constitution says: If the canal is in a emergency the U.S has the power to take it back and They are going to build a reserve of water if It was necesary, so nah... We are going to be fine.
Nicaragua must protect that lake for today and for the future of Nicaraguans who live by as the only fresh water lake depended upon and all the endangered species it would devastate. Solution? Who really knows? East canada chiming in.
Excellent still-motion photography pictures/drawings/maps. Enabling viewers to better understand what the orator is describing-!!!🤗. Much tariff .money 💰 made on those canal systems-!!!
Either a new canal will be built through Nicaragua or the Panama Canal will need to be widened and deepened but the Panama Canal has water supply problems that may be hard to solve.
1:00 It also saves a lot of fuel vs going around the Cape - and generally MUCH MUCH safer than the storms in the Cape area. Down side - ever hear the term "Panamax"? There is a SIZE limit to what can fit through the canal, even with the fairly recent 3'd Cut added with bigger locks - many of the largest Container ships, biggest Oil Tankers flat out won't FIT through the Canal (not a big deal to the tankers, they're mostly going other routes anyway, but a LOT of container ships use the Canal THAT CAN).
I'm not a super-eco hipster.. but um.. ships like that are bound to disturb the freshwater lake with oils and other contaminants.. not the most environmentally friendly choice IMO
You would think Ortega would have no problem getting funding from the CCCP and others but he has a bad Rep among the honest traders in the world. Maybe soon it will happen but that's still a tough uphill battle.
I just Googled the project and there is no work being done it has been abandoned and there is no funding so you can go on to the next video,........ thank you very much
According to Wikipedia those sharks in the lake (bull sharks) pretend to be like salmon or trout and can actually jump out of the lake into the San Juan River which eventually feeds into the ocean. In other words, they can get the ocean girls!
@@paulbunion6233 Amazon sells my books in China. Trade goes both ways. To advance civilization, improvements in communications and transportation have to be solved. Communications are limited by speed of light and we're there now. Capacity is the problem to be solved. Canals have always been a good way to save on transportation cost and increase speed and capacity with very expensive infrastructure. Locks make canals much more expensive and complicated. Unless you can tunnel, mountain ranges require locks.
@@kaibrunnenG BECAUSE Einstein, IF YOU didn't purchase so much crap from China, there would be NO SHIPS so don't try and come off all caring about the environment when YOU are a big part of the problem
Very interesting. Mom recognized my interest in geography before I COULD READ. She bought me a geography textbook and showed pretty pictures of maps, etc. which becameA lifelong interest. "Why are all those countries pink?"" That is the British Empire" now Commonwealth. Yup, the sun never set on the Empire. I remember Sudah had pink diagonal stripes on it, labelled Anglo-Sudan. (Decades later did business there, a qualified failure. Our container is still there!). what a creation that amongst some rights violations, it did open the whole world to a common language and trade, enabling the relatively posh lives we experience in developed nations today. ** BUT... LETS KEEP IT SUSTAINABLE. !!""
Build the original French plan for the Panama Canal by digging to sea level all the way through. This eliminates the need for locks and the freshwater needed to get ships through locks. It was an overwhelming task in the early 1900's, but could be done now. It is the best answer to this situation.
Not only does Spain not get anywhere near the grief the US gets for "stolen land", they were allowed to sue treasure hunters in a world court and get the gold and silver that was painstakingly recovered from a shipwreck.
@@Duquedecastro Spain left its people in the countries it pillaged, even after they became independent. And they stole the land, which you failed to argue against.
During the Spanish Civil War, the Spanish government bought arms from the USSR in exchange for 1500 TONS of gold, some of it still being artifacts from the Aztecs and Incas. A few years later, the United States provided immensely greater amounts of arms to the USSR for FREE! Sharp traders, those Communists!
And all of that is irrelevant as stolen land is fake nonsense only braindead morons wanting to use minorities as tools for shit that won’t benefit anyone
Normally container ship transits cost somewhere between $60,000 and $300,000. With continued congestion conflated by drought and low water, an auction system allows some ships to buy their way to the front of the line at the Canal. The Panama Canal Authority has an auction system that allows ships to bid for slots to move ahead in the queue. The starting bid for these slots is $55,000, but winning bids can range from $1.4 million to $4 million. The highest bids are usually won by carriers transporting liquefied petroleum gas or liquefied natural gas.
Please. It was a land grab by and to benefit Daniel Ortega and his family - as they missed the looting they could do when he was previously in power. I bet the Chinese investor skimmed a big batch of money from the Chinese government too.
I am from Nicaragua and I just hope that the canal will never be built because it would destroy many ecosystems and important nature reserves as well as pollute our great lake.
Actually, I don't understand. Both sides are seas, so if they link together, what harm does it do? Both are seas. The only problem os, the north and south cannot be together, unless they build many bridges in between.
It may be important to note that Panama, at the time of the Federal Republic of Central America, was not a country. It was part of Colombia. The United States used “gunboat diplomacy” to support a Panamanian independence group’s movement for independence from Colombia. This was in order to secure the isthmus for a proposed canal, initially started by a French company and taken over by the United States.
As someone who has family that would get displaced by this project, I'm obviously against it. Ortega is going to do a massive land grab and steal my family and many other family's farmland to make this canal. Unlike the American landgrabs where the government is obligated to pay for the land, Nicaraguan government can just take the land and leave you with nothing. Plus, as mentioned in the video, an enormous amount of Nicaraguans rely on Lago de Nicaragua for fresh drinking water. Having that lake invaded by the dense salt water of the Gulf of Mexico would ruin the drinking supply for thousands of people. Also, one of the volcanoes that make up the island in Lago de Nicaragua is an active volcano that has erupted not too long ago. Its twin is dormant, but with one of the two island volcanoes in that very lake being an active volcano, that will definitely hinder the project and cause doubts among shipping companies to use a potentially volatile shipping route.
The French failed because they thought they could dig a trench there like they did in Suez, which was impossible because the mountain range kept closing the gap they dug. It had to be done with locks and a lake but the french had no plan in that direction, ergo , failure.
One thing that is not mentioned, is there going to be a lock system to raise and lower the ships 🚢 or keep the same water elevation at each end and use the tide to move the ships 🚢 from one ocean to the another. Suez Canal does this. Also what do you do with the lake's fresh water 💧 if the Canal is kept at sea levels on both ends 🤔 ??? Nothing said about that 😮.
@@roberthughes7237 that is the question 🤔. Do you make the Canal a sea level to sea level connection or do a lock and dam Canal to retain the fresh water 💧 🤔??? This answer is what needs to be discussed.
Ya, but the Panama Canal was built 110 years ago. Today there is much better earth moving equipment as well as better construction and civil engineering procedures. If they hired an American civil engineering firm to build the new canal, since it is on flat ground, it potentially be built very quickly!
There were also plans at about the same time to use nukes to dig a waterway through the western Egyptian desert and flood the Qattara Depression, creating an inland sea between Egypt and Libya. This didn't happen wither
If they were planning on digging 90% of the thing anyway then why would they still go through lake Nicaragua? Wouldn’t it make more sense to build it where it wouldn’t risk contaminating their fresh water. The only reason to use the lake was that it would make it cheaper by using natural rivers.
Point of clarification: By 1903, Panama was part of Colombia. That's the reason why the Central American Republic did not include it. Thus, the US had to negotiate with Colombia. Since Colombia gave US negotiators a hard time, (rightfully so) the US supported a Panamanian secessionist movement. This movement was successful and, upon gaining power and declaring Panama an independent country, then proceeded to grant the US the right to build the canal. "...[W]ith the passage of the Spooner Act of 1902 by the U.S. Congress, which authorized purchasing the assets of the French company and building a canal, provided that a satisfactory treaty could be negotiated with Colombia. When treaty negotiations with Colombia broke down, Panama, with the implicit backing of the United States, declared its independence and was recognized by the United States in November 1903. The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was then negotiated between Panama and the United States. The treaty satisfied the Spooner Act and created the Panama Canal Zone; it was proclaimed in February 1904." For Panamanians, "[t]he most-onerous part of the treaty [...] was the right granted to the United States to act in the entire 10-mile- (16-km-) wide ocean-to-ocean Canal Zone as “if it were the sovereign.” Britannica
With the Panama canel slowly dying due to vital watersheds feeding it going dry. I can see another canel systems or two being build by the Americans funded by Blackrock or Vanguard some where in the region. Most likely Costa Rica or Nicaragua.
China should build one canal for EACH two-ocean coastal Central American countries: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, plus Mexico and Columbia (sorry for El Salvador and Belize). Thenceforth, each of them can engage in free-and-fair market competition. 😉
Impossible. Sea level is not the same between the 2 great oceans and you would probably have to dig 100s of feet down and that would drain and destroy lake Nicaragua.
@@skiv12276 The difference is a rather small 8 inches or so between the two bodies of water. This is enough to cause a massive series of storms at the tip of South America, but if a giant channel could be built in theory, it would require a very simple single lock at the end. This is why Nicaragua was so keen on the idea. They have a route to the Lake already, naturally, and even with the elevation change, it's only a 100 ft drop from the lake down to the Pacific. So 2 to 3 locks is all you would need. Engineering-wise, using the river is a dead-simple proposition as the optimal place to build it would be farther north, near the city of Rivas. This appears to be a natural break in the mountain range.
@@plektosgaming it might be 8 inches. But are the tides the same. Definitely not. The cape cod canal is only 6 miles long, but has 2 different tides at either end which causes extreme currents. That’s just from a tiny canal connecting 2 bays. Taking away the fact the land rises hundred feet in middle of Nicaragua. I was commenting how it’s impossible to build without locks.
@@skiv12276 It definitely needs locks. But logistically there is a path where the elevation change is only a bit over 100ft and bypasses the mountains. That said, the pollution from the ships 24 hours a day would be bad for their environment.
When the US was taking about a Panama Canal in the 19th Century, we were taking to Colombia, Panama did not exist as an independent country. It did not become independent until 1903 and only with the US help. Weird and very important thing to gloss over. 🤷🏻♂️
Panama is rebuilding the canal, enlarging all the gates to take the newer larger container ships. This will be completed long before any other land crossing is started
My cousin and my great grandfather, great grandmother and my cousin wife left Barbados 🇧🇧 to help build the Panama 🇵🇦 canal . That how I have family members there back then. Even a cousin left Barbados 🇧🇧 to Panama 🇵🇦 in the 1880s when the French was building it . He return to Barbados 🇧🇧 in 1889 when the French stop building it.
I am surprised anyone was willing to invest at all in the canal, since the last 2 canals were 'entitled' into the hands of the locals. But given Nicaragua's inability to build it themselves, it shows the previous canal taking countries should not have acted so entitled about it, because they never would have been able to build it themselves.
Tolls for a neomax containership can be as high as $1mil....this is for a guaranteed on-arrival passage slot. Expensive to be sure but cheaper than waiting 10 days.
You missed story about Vanderbuilt and his dredging of the first couple of miles around the turn of the century. Greytown was the name of San Juan Del Norte at the time.
I think this project was cancelled because the corporations didn't want to see the Panama Canal lose money/business, that's all. Many corporations hate competition and this is one of example.
10:40 This nuke bombing to make a canal really needs to be studied further! (not joking) Russia used it to build a lake over night and radiation levels were not a concern afterwards. The "ten times cheaper" figure included BUIDNG the bombs, now the USA has hundreds of surplus bombs that could be used just for transportation costs.
Previous outreach to US gov decision to use Panama, is that volcano still a concern? I cannot recall the terms, but is it on a fault line or a path with other seismic activity?
With THAT much income to be had, somebody will loan it to them. China has been doing it for years in Africa with modern roads and irrigation projects. Panama Canal made $2.7 Billion in 2020.
Why don’t we just patiently dig a path from one ocean to the other ocean so that you don’t need to make elevation locks? Sure it’ll cost money but people will earn the money and it will become a permanent structure.
It is not on our land to begin with. And the US signed treaties with Panama when it was first being built, that it would be turned over to Panama. Those treaties were finally honored in 1999.
Break it into three "parts". Lake, Pacific Canal, Atlantic Canal. EACH worked on for "long term". Build what you Can, now. All three half done? Link em easy.
On Google Earth the land to the south and East of the lake looks fairly flat and there is a kilometer or two between the lake and the border. It would make sense to build a canal there rather than using the lake.
Your map is incorrect! At that time, the land included The Yucatan peninsula, as Quintana Roo, Campeche, and Chiapas (i can't recall if Tabasco was included)
If the water control system in the Panama Cannel worked correctly they would have no water loss at all simply pump it out to Containers and back in do not allow any water to pass from High to low reuse it over and over only evaporation would be the only loss.
Regardless it still makes economic sense to build this canal, as clearly the Panama Canal is beyond capacity and being overwhelmed. Hopefully they’ll be wise and make it at least 250ft wide and very much deeper to take these vast cargo vessels with relative ease.
As global temperatures continue to rise, and the ice caps recede, there will be no need for the Panama Canal, let alone the Nicaragua Canal. It's the Northwest Passage, baby! Canada, your day is coming.
@@jackbelk8527 Yes and there in lies the problem with the lock design. I could be wrong, but I believe the Panama Canal was originally started by the French with an 'at grade' approach. If the lock system and fresh water lakes could be avoided then the result would be a superior canal though the engineering challenge to do this would be monumental. I presume that the ocean levels on each side of such a canal would not be the same elevation. Each lock = time = money. The reduction of locks is where the money is.
Check out CyberGhost VPN at www.cyberghostvpn.com/MegaBuilds and you will get 84% off CyberGhost VPN. That's $2.03/month and 4 months free! It's risk-free with their 45-day money-back guarantee. Thanks to CyberGhostVPN for sponsoring the video! (Sponsored)
What do you think, will the Nicaragua Canal ever be built? 🤔 And what other megaprojects should we cover next?
Not in my lifetime. A drought that completely disables the Panama canal would restart the idea more seriously.
@@kvom01
>
In the immortal words of Julia Sugarbaker, "I don't think so, Carlene."
And in the equally immortal words of Flo, "When donkeys fly."
No
You missed a few interesting tidbits about the Panama canal such as the fact that Panama was actually part of Columbia and the US supported it's succession in order to free the canal for US use and that the French company that had gone broke was led by the same person who built the Suez but mismanaged the Panama canal so badly he was thrown in prison for fraud (selling shares in project several times to generate cash flow and still barely got started). Good video, anyway!
Thanks for not being lazy and reading the narration yourself! (I’ve been unsubscribing from channels starting to use AI voices.)
The *_FRESH WATER_* is the primary concern here. The majority of the population lives near the lake and depend upon it for their drinking water. Contamination of the lake would be catastrophic for the economy, and far worse, the people.
True
You didn't mention about the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty that was signed between Nicaragua and the United States on August 5, 1914. It gave the United States full rights over any future canal built through Nicaragua. By the terms of the treaty, the United States acquired the rights to any canal built in Nicaragua in perpetuity, a renewable 99year option to establish a naval base in the Gulf of Fonseca, and a renewable 99-year lease to the Great and Little Corn Islands in the Caribbean. For those concessions, Nicaragua received $3 million. At the request of Nicaragua, the United States under Richard Nixon and Nicaragua under Anastasio Somoza Debayle held a convention, on July 14, 1970, that officially abolished the treaty and all its provisions.
Hence why America will be the only one building any future canal in the region funded by Blackrock or Vanguard.
And 20 years later we were kicking ourselves as the Panama canal was beginning to fall apart.
Now to steal again???
@@plektosgamingthe US government doesn't own or control the Panama canal anymore
Soooo your saying the treaty no longer stands, wonder why no billionaires/ powerful corporations have pounced on this opportunity.
I am surprised you didn’t mention the Panama Canel expansion project which was completed in 2016 that allowed the new neopanamax ships to go through the panama canal. These new ships dramatically reduce the capacity gaps. This changed the economic equation making the Nigaraguan Canal even less economically feasible.
Except water is the issue now.
Not really. While the canal was being expanded, container ships were being built that already would exceed its newer size. And the water is just a seasonal thing. The news doesn't report when there's excess water, because there are less views with good news and no one can sell doom and gloom when times are good.
This could create a competition lowering tolls, which is where you determine your profits.
All it has done is make water the issue because it's too expensive.
@@dansullivan8968yes, and bigger ships.
Panama enlarged their canal to meet the demand of the Panamax shipowners. What if Panama had said: Thk's but no thk's ! And told the shipowner to show the money. There would probably not have been any Panamax ship built and the Panama canal would still be operating at maximum water availability. Money talks loud and is always heard by its friend,...greed,...sometimes beyond reason !
Shipping across a pristine fresh water lake that the entire country depends on seems like a bad idea.
Turning a 100 Metre wide section of the lake into a separate waterway alongside the bank would seem easier and cheaper than digging a canal while retaining the rest of the lake as fresh water.
It's already the case with the lake...don't know its name...that plays the same role in Panama.
Shipping across the lake isn't even the biggest problem.
Connecting it to the oceans is.
Once the canal is operational, the lake will be flooded with saltwater, eliminating it as a freshwater source and completely changing its ecosystem.
This is basically the opposite effect of what happened to the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal.
Before the canal was built, the Bitter Lake was a lot saltier than either of the two adjoining oceans. "Experts" expected this to prevent the migration of life forms from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean.
Well, it did for a couple of decades. But by now, the salinity of the lake is the same as in the Red Sea. And the Mediterranean has become the new home of several invasive species.
@@herrhartmann3036 Elevation of the lake must be higher than the ocean level. They will be connected through the chain of gates. No sea water would be able to get upstream.
@@ruslankadylak2999 Sooner or later.. after decades.. there will be a build up of salt water from the Pacific Ocean and salt water from the Atlantic Ocean. There is only one option.. Dredge an entire independant canal from the West Coast to the East Coast of Nicaragua.
I'm not against the construction of Nicaragua canal but maybe it will dry up the fresh water of that beautiful big lake and for sure it will contaminate the lake, Nicaragua must protect that lake for today and for the future of Nicaraguans who live by,
Can they do a canal without emptying the lake ?
@@edgarbenjoseph3879 not possible. these are big ships we are talking about and need lot of water.
No it will not.
Because they can build step by step canal to allow ship pass the canal without spill sl much the water to ocean .
It can use bernouli principle to lift up and lift down the big ship.
Wang Jing coming out of obscurity to be a massive billionaire and then just as quickly disappearing. Oh nothing sketchy there at all.
The US after previous actions to prevent it from being built seemed to have failed they probably had him eliminated & China hasn’t said anything because they don’t want to admit the US was able to secretly delete someone on Chinese soil & they weren’t able to intervene or prevent it.
it is called chinese stock market lol
@@bessibossi69 Xi !!!!!!
Or that I'm having an affair with his wife & mistress-!!!🤗
We hardly know about big entrepreneurs in China. Jack Ma is pretty much the only one I can name.
Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt's ships for several years in the 19th Century used the Nicaraguan route, minus the canal between the lake and the Pacific Ocean. Even he, however, couldn't muster the cash to build that last link.
Any plan that involves routing salt water into a fresh water lake , especially Lake Nicaragua must be stopped immediately . Lake Nicaragua is a "FRESH WATER LAKE" . If any canal routes salt water from the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans into any fresh water lake it will absolutely kill the lake . The plan to have a second canal to cross the country of Panama must go back to the drawing board and be moved much much farther south so that salt water does not enter Lake Nicaragua . Also , millions of people rely on Lake Nicaragua for fresh water .
I wonder if the investors will allow local builders.
It's 107 feet above sea level, so substantial contamination with sea water would be difficult to pull off.
I wonder if they could kip the waters separated completely. It would be difficult but possible?
I watched a documentary about bullsharks living in there. Pretty sad how quick for a dollar people are willing to destroy the ecosystem
By the time this is built, Canada will open up Northwest passage
It will certainly be a reality soon. It's easier to build custom ice breakers to lead ships through the few areas of ( not so thick any more ) ice. The weather is pretty severe, though, through the Bearing Straight. It's not as simple as it first looks. But Canada and the U.S. are 100% committed to making it work as it's a potential game-changer for their countries. No locks, no issues of pollution, just a way to clear the ice. As of writing this, the passage is actually open and clear water - and is expected to remain so for about 6-7 more weeks.
@@plektosgaming I lived in Nome for a few years between 1950 and 1953. That would have been a shock to everyone... watching a "train" of ships passing by. We'd get one cargo ship per year in the summer, and we had to place our orders with Sears and Roebuck mail order companies to be delivered the next summer. A lot of thought and "wishing/planning" were struggled through for each year's order. That year long wait was just torture, especially for the kids.
It's certainly an interesting idea... just don't let the Chinese investors get involved!!! They're already working their way into central America.
It's open now isn't it?
Arctic waters are too shallow
The north west passage will never be a passage from Europe to the orient. You can sometimes use the passage in the late summer but even this is questionable. In the winter with temperatures going into the -60 C it will never work!
I live on Lake Nicaragua. This proposed project would be a Enviromental disaster of global proportions to Central America and the world. Let’s pray it never actually occurs.
Please explain friend !
I have been in Nicaragua in the 1980s. I was working as a volunteer in the Sandanista times . The earthquake and
Revolution vastly added to Nicaraguas
economic problems ! The canal would help pull you out of poverty ! The river and lake are already there so how could completing a canal be such an environmental problem that you would prefer not to seize this golden opportunity ?
@David-hq4lq I'd hazard a guess that it's pretty self explanatory isn't it? ... you dig a canal, that's no longer a fresh water lake eh champ
@@and__lam1152Water still flows down hill. A canal does not bring the ocean into the lake. However, it may drain the lake unnaturally and prematurely into the Pacific.
I agree! I hope this plan never jeopardizes Lago Cocibolca!
A second canal would be beneficial as it would reduce the waiting times for traversing the Panama Canal.
Congrats on over 1 Million Subscribers. Been with you guys since before 100k and have learned a lot! Keep up the great work (And STRAIGHTEN those classic books!)
It seems to me that a high speed, freight-container, rail line shuttling back and forth between Atlantic and Pacific would be a much cheaper solution. If the trains were designed to rapidly load/unload cargo containers and powered by electricity, I think there would be much less environmental damage.
Sea travel is much cheaper than land travel. Where would all this electricity come from? Wind turbines that destroy the environment to get built and can't be recycled? Or nuclear energy which is clean and efficient, but has a scary name?
I think he mentioned half a billion tons a year of goods, and more is needed. I don't that could be done by rail, but I've never checked. But the loading off ships on one side, then onto land, then back to ships on the other side...jeez. And even with trucks, same load cycle. Plus fuel. And with all that loading; the number of accidents, deaths, labor...
Mexico is building this exact thing currently.
When you consider that just a single ship can carry *20,000* containers and that a canal can handle multiple ships per day, you can start to see why a rail-based solution could never compete :-/
Ironically Mexico seems to be working on just such a venture.
The drought in Panama and the possible closing of the canal could fuel this.
Panama is about to build an extra reservoir to solve the problem.
The U.S Ain´t let that happend bc the Panama constitution says: If the canal is in a emergency the U.S has the power to take it back and They are going to build a reserve of water if It was necesary, so nah... We are going to be fine.
Thanks!
"I never really liked that Panama Canal" ~ Suez Canal
@hillbilly, still getting used to electricity?
Why would you pollute a large freshwater lake . That water would be invaluable in the future.
I Never Liked Either Canal’s The Fishing Sucks at Both Of Them.. Too Many Big Boats Makes It Hard to Catch Anything!😊
Good thing no one has ever heard of Suez Canal
No one gets the joke 😂
$50 billion project, well, thats just 1/3 of the money the US gave Ukraine.
Nicaragua must protect that lake for today and for the future of Nicaraguans who live by as the only fresh water lake depended upon and all the endangered species it would devastate. Solution? Who really knows? East canada chiming in.
It has been suggested that Deforestation of the Amazon basin is contributing to lower rain falls.
Excellent still-motion photography pictures/drawings/maps. Enabling viewers to better understand what the orator is describing-!!!🤗. Much tariff .money 💰 made on those canal systems-!!!
Either a new canal will be built through Nicaragua or the Panama Canal will need to be widened and deepened but the Panama Canal has water supply problems that may be hard to solve.
Panama Canal water level is close to full capacity.
1:00
It also saves a lot of fuel vs going around the Cape - and generally MUCH MUCH safer than the storms in the Cape area.
Down side - ever hear the term "Panamax"?
There is a SIZE limit to what can fit through the canal, even with the fairly recent 3'd Cut added with bigger locks - many of the largest Container ships, biggest Oil Tankers flat out won't FIT through the Canal (not a big deal to the tankers, they're mostly going other routes anyway, but a LOT of container ships use the Canal THAT CAN).
I'm not a super-eco hipster.. but um.. ships like that are bound to disturb the freshwater lake with oils and other contaminants.. not the most environmentally friendly choice IMO
You would think Ortega would have no problem getting funding from the CCCP and others but he has a bad Rep among the honest traders in the world. Maybe soon it will happen but that's still a tough uphill battle.
After living in Nicaragua for 20 years let me assure you there will be no Nica canal.
Nobody powerful enough to force it on Nicaragua? Money doesn't talk, it swears. My guess is that it's not an attractive enough solution.
I just Googled the project and there is no work being done it has been abandoned and there is no funding so you can go on to the next video,........ thank you very much
Now all the sharks can get out of Lake Nicaragua and meet some ocean girls
According to Wikipedia those sharks in the lake (bull sharks) pretend to be like salmon or trout and can actually jump out of the lake into the San Juan River which eventually feeds into the ocean. In other words, they can get the ocean girls!
That's a beautiful lake. Hundred of ships going through there each day would over time contaminate the lake with pollutant.
Yeah, about a week.
maybe YOU can help prevent this by closing your Amazon account and buying only items locally made and not imported from China
@@paulbunion6233 Maybe you should be quiet? What's this have to do with China? It's the Nicaragua Government problem.
@@paulbunion6233 Amazon sells my books in China. Trade goes both ways.
To advance civilization, improvements in communications and transportation have to be solved.
Communications are limited by speed of light and we're there now. Capacity is the problem to be solved.
Canals have always been a good way to save on transportation cost and increase speed and capacity with very expensive infrastructure.
Locks make canals much more expensive and complicated. Unless you can tunnel, mountain ranges require locks.
@@kaibrunnenG BECAUSE Einstein, IF YOU didn't purchase so much crap from China, there would be NO SHIPS so don't try and come off all caring about the environment when YOU are a big part of the problem
Very interesting. Mom recognized my interest in geography before I COULD READ. She bought me a geography textbook and showed pretty pictures of maps, etc. which becameA lifelong interest. "Why are all those countries pink?""
That is the British Empire" now Commonwealth. Yup, the sun never set on the Empire. I remember Sudah had pink diagonal stripes on it, labelled Anglo-Sudan. (Decades later did business there, a qualified failure. Our container is still there!).
what a creation that amongst some rights violations, it did open the whole world to a common language and trade, enabling the relatively posh lives we experience in developed nations today.
** BUT... LETS KEEP IT SUSTAINABLE. !!""
Wonderful presentation sir. Thank you
Build the original French plan for the Panama Canal by digging to sea level all the way through. This eliminates the need for locks and the freshwater needed to get ships through locks. It was an overwhelming task in the early 1900's, but could be done now. It is the best answer to this situation.
So which sea level?
@@jonyemm You act as though they are different.
@@relicofgold They are.
@@frequentlycynical642 Not after a canal is dug allowing them to infiltrate one another.
@@relicofgold Sigh. A canal will not equalize the difference of two fucking huge oceans. The difference is about 8",
Not only does Spain not get anywhere near the grief the US gets for "stolen land", they were allowed to sue treasure hunters in a world court and get the gold and silver that was painstakingly recovered from a shipwreck.
Yes, wonder who was behind that?
Spain does not hold that land and hasn’t for 200 years. The US still sits on its s t o l e n land.
@@Duquedecastro Spain left its people in the countries it pillaged, even after they became independent.
And they stole the land, which you failed to argue against.
During the Spanish Civil War, the Spanish government bought arms from the USSR in exchange for 1500 TONS of gold, some of it still being artifacts from the Aztecs and Incas.
A few years later, the United States provided immensely greater amounts of arms to the USSR for FREE!
Sharp traders, those Communists!
And all of that is irrelevant as stolen land is fake nonsense only braindead morons wanting to use minorities as tools for shit that won’t benefit anyone
0:56
Half a million? or 500 million????
Normally container ship transits cost somewhere between $60,000 and $300,000. With continued congestion conflated by drought and low water, an auction system allows some ships to buy their way to the front of the line at the Canal.
The Panama Canal Authority has an auction system that allows ships to bid for slots to move ahead in the queue. The starting bid for these slots is $55,000, but winning bids can range from $1.4 million to $4 million. The highest bids are usually won by carriers transporting liquefied petroleum gas or liquefied natural gas.
I'll settle for either amount-!!!🤗
Please. It was a land grab by and to benefit Daniel Ortega and his family - as they missed the looting they could do when he was previously in power. I bet the Chinese investor skimmed a big batch of money from the Chinese government too.
Exactly!!!
If so they definitely got that back from him lol
I can't help to compare your coment to the mayor of Dalton. She's skimmed, wasted, converted almost $9mil from the coffers.
That's probably why nobody knows where he went.
I am from Nicaragua and I just hope that the canal will never be built because it would destroy many ecosystems and important nature reserves as well as pollute our great lake.
Something needs to lift nicaragua out of poverty, and this canal may be the thing to do so.
@@mesq26 Just to make a few rich and destroy an entire eco system? Grow up brother!!
Nicaragua isn't poor, communists have it poor.
Actually, I don't understand. Both sides are seas, so if they link together, what harm does it do? Both are seas. The only problem os, the north and south cannot be together, unless they build many bridges in between.
You hope-???🤔
It may be important to note that Panama, at the time of the Federal Republic of Central America, was not a country. It was part of Colombia. The United States used “gunboat diplomacy” to support a Panamanian independence group’s movement for independence from Colombia. This was in order to secure the isthmus for a proposed canal, initially started by a French company and taken over by the United States.
perhaps Nicaragua needs an equivalent to the Civilian Conservation Corps that built numerous projects across the U.S. right after the Depression
They should skip making a canal and instead make a tunnel for the ships. The tunnel should even allow for an aircraft carrier to fit.
As someone who has family that would get displaced by this project, I'm obviously against it.
Ortega is going to do a massive land grab and steal my family and many other family's farmland to make this canal. Unlike the American landgrabs where the government is obligated to pay for the land, Nicaraguan government can just take the land and leave you with nothing.
Plus, as mentioned in the video, an enormous amount of Nicaraguans rely on Lago de Nicaragua for fresh drinking water. Having that lake invaded by the dense salt water of the Gulf of Mexico would ruin the drinking supply for thousands of people.
Also, one of the volcanoes that make up the island in Lago de Nicaragua is an active volcano that has erupted not too long ago. Its twin is dormant, but with one of the two island volcanoes in that very lake being an active volcano, that will definitely hinder the project and cause doubts among shipping companies to use a potentially volatile shipping route.
The French failed because they thought they could dig a trench there like they did in Suez, which was impossible because the mountain range kept closing the gap they dug. It had to be done with locks and a lake but the french had no plan in that direction, ergo , failure.
TWO MINUTE scripted ads seriously suck.
I'm not opposed to ads to support a channel, heck, I have them on mine.
But 120 seconds is excessive.
One thing that is not mentioned, is there going to be a lock system to raise and lower the ships 🚢 or keep the same water elevation at each end and use the tide to move the ships 🚢 from one ocean to the another.
Suez Canal does this.
Also what do you do with the lake's fresh water 💧 if the Canal is kept at sea levels on both ends 🤔 ???
Nothing said about that 😮.
The Suez canal connects salt water to salt water. What happens when salt water in canal meets fresh water in lake?
@@roberthughes7237 that is the question 🤔. Do you make the Canal a sea level to sea level connection or do a lock and dam Canal to retain the fresh water 💧 🤔???
This answer is what needs to be discussed.
It's never a bad idea to have options and to break up monopolies on a service.
Until one guy buys up both and uses an artificial price war against himself to drive up his revenue.
Mexico has also quietly been working on similar dreams, though I think they recently built a direct rail link between east and west ports
at 0:57 they said halF a million$ but then write 500M$,
New canals bypassing existing trade routes are so hot right now.
very interesting story. Thank you
Getting the canal doug is still the basic problem. Panama Canal was hard enough.
Ya, but the Panama Canal was built 110 years ago. Today there is much better earth moving equipment as well as better construction and civil engineering procedures. If they hired an American civil engineering firm to build the new canal, since it is on flat ground, it potentially be built very quickly!
Build a canal with nukes? Jesus Christ we were unhinged back then.
There were also plans at about the same time to use nukes to dig a waterway through the western Egyptian desert and flood the Qattara Depression, creating an inland sea between Egypt and Libya. This didn't happen wither
That's some crazy Soviet impression to me...
“Do not use the lords name in vain”
Back then?
@@lionsdejudahWhat ever hero. You Christians do it everyday.
There should be a optional canal , for many reasons. Actually 3 canals would be good.
Very informative!
Great report. I did not know about the French action.
Whenever greed is in play, things don’t come easy.
If they were planning on digging 90% of the thing anyway then why would they still go through lake Nicaragua? Wouldn’t it make more sense to build it where it wouldn’t risk contaminating their fresh water. The only reason to use the lake was that it would make it cheaper by using natural rivers.
Point of clarification: By 1903, Panama was part of Colombia. That's the reason why the Central American Republic did not include it. Thus, the US had to negotiate with Colombia. Since Colombia gave US negotiators a hard time, (rightfully so) the US supported a Panamanian secessionist movement. This movement was successful and, upon gaining power and declaring Panama an independent country, then proceeded to grant the US the right to build the canal.
"...[W]ith the passage of the Spooner Act of 1902 by the U.S. Congress, which authorized purchasing the assets of the French company and building a canal, provided that a satisfactory treaty could be negotiated with Colombia. When treaty negotiations with Colombia broke down, Panama, with the implicit backing of the United States, declared its independence and was recognized by the United States in November 1903. The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty was then negotiated between Panama and the United States. The treaty satisfied the Spooner Act and created the Panama Canal Zone; it was proclaimed in February 1904." For Panamanians, "[t]he most-onerous part of the treaty [...] was the right granted to the United States to act in the entire 10-mile- (16-km-) wide ocean-to-ocean Canal Zone as “if it were the sovereign.”
Britannica
With the Panama canel slowly dying due to vital watersheds feeding it going dry.
I can see another canel systems or two being build by the Americans funded by Blackrock or Vanguard some where in the region. Most likely Costa Rica or Nicaragua.
Canal not canel
Vanguard is a broker and fund manager.
They can't build, it goes against their core business which is shock and awe
China should build one canal for EACH two-ocean coastal Central American countries: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, plus Mexico and Columbia (sorry for El Salvador and Belize). Thenceforth, each of them can engage in free-and-fair market competition. 😉
Costa Rica would be rather difficult, relatively high mountains.
Though with the traffic, I think a second canal might be in order
Nope... All done with any channel pushing ads on top of the already insufferable youtube ads... CHANNEL REMOVED !!! 💥
The world needs it that’s for sure
IMO, the best place to built a new canal isn't Nicaragua. It's Tehuantepec, Mexico.
not if you look at a topographic map
Too high elevations on that isthmus. A transcontinental railroad is once being resurrected and should be operational within two years
Any new canal should build to be at sea level so they do not have the same problem as the Panama Canal.
Impossible. Sea level is not the same between the 2 great oceans and you would probably have to dig 100s of feet down and that would drain and destroy lake Nicaragua.
@@skiv12276 The difference is a rather small 8 inches or so between the two bodies of water. This is enough to cause a massive series of storms at the tip of South America, but if a giant channel could be built in theory, it would require a very simple single lock at the end. This is why Nicaragua was so keen on the idea. They have a route to the Lake already, naturally, and even with the elevation change, it's only a 100 ft drop from the lake down to the Pacific. So 2 to 3 locks is all you would need. Engineering-wise, using the river is a dead-simple proposition as the optimal place to build it would be farther north, near the city of Rivas. This appears to be a natural break in the mountain range.
@@plektosgaming it might be 8 inches. But are the tides the same. Definitely not. The cape cod canal is only 6 miles long, but has 2 different tides at either end which causes extreme currents. That’s just from a tiny canal connecting 2 bays. Taking away the fact the land rises hundred feet in middle of Nicaragua. I was commenting how it’s impossible to build without locks.
@@skiv12276 It definitely needs locks. But logistically there is a path where the elevation change is only a bit over 100ft and bypasses the mountains. That said, the pollution from the ships 24 hours a day would be bad for their environment.
@@plektosgaming The Panama Canal has an 85 foot rise. Nicaragua canal would take 107 feet, so more locks.
When the US was taking about a Panama Canal in the 19th Century, we were taking to Colombia, Panama did not exist as an independent country. It did not become independent until 1903 and only with the US help. Weird and very important thing to gloss over. 🤷🏻♂️
Is history, though I'm a bit surprised Columbia ever had it, Darian Gap and all, generally impervious to all but foot traffic.
Panama is rebuilding the canal, enlarging all the gates to take the newer larger container ships. This will be completed long before any other land crossing is started
How would they keep the ocean(s) waters from "contaminating"the lake?
My grandfather helped lead in the US Army construction of the Panama Canal.
In other words you have relatives in Panama😂
@@Maweresistance 😂😂😂 I dunno my grandfather was married and very religious, he was actually the entertainment director 😂. Go figure 😂
My cousin and my great grandfather, great grandmother and my cousin wife left Barbados 🇧🇧 to help build the Panama 🇵🇦 canal . That how I have family members there back then. Even a cousin left Barbados 🇧🇧 to Panama 🇵🇦 in the 1880s when the French was building it . He return to Barbados 🇧🇧 in 1889 when the French stop building it.
and while we're at it .... another channel Northwest Passage! But be sure to move Polar Bears and seal pups first.
I am surprised anyone was willing to invest at all in the canal, since the last 2 canals were 'entitled' into the hands of the locals. But given Nicaragua's inability to build it themselves, it shows the previous canal taking countries should not have acted so entitled about it, because they never would have been able to build it themselves.
love your video
More the merrier fair trade for all . Companys can use thier brains according to the weather seasons.
Thank you
3:58 You totally left out the fact that all of those Central American countries gained independence as part of the First Mexican Empire
It was the Soviet Union that was trying to push the Nicarauga canal, as a counterweight to the US during the Cold War. Not Russia. Factual error.
Environmentalist will never let it happen imo
Money talks---especially around corrupt Politicos.
Claims the Panama Canal toll for a big ship can cost "half a million dollars". Displays on screen "$500M USD", which is 1000 times more.
Tolls for a neomax containership can be as high as $1mil....this is for a guaranteed on-arrival passage slot. Expensive to be sure but cheaper than waiting 10 days.
You missed story about Vanderbuilt and his dredging of the first couple of miles around the turn of the century. Greytown was the name of San Juan Del Norte at the time.
any EPA type protection?
fat chance
I think this project was cancelled because the corporations didn't want to see the Panama Canal lose money/business, that's all. Many corporations hate competition and this is one of example.
10:40 This nuke bombing to make a canal really needs to be studied further! (not joking) Russia used it to build a lake over night and radiation levels were not a concern afterwards.
The "ten times cheaper" figure included BUIDNG the bombs, now the USA has hundreds of surplus bombs that could be used just for transportation costs.
Previous outreach to US gov decision to use Panama, is that volcano still a concern? I cannot recall the terms, but is it on a fault line or a path with other seismic activity?
It’ll never be built by Nicaragua 🇳🇮 they can’t afford it
Ortega stole everything.
With THAT much income to be had, somebody will loan it to them. China has been doing it for years in Africa with modern roads and irrigation projects.
Panama Canal made $2.7 Billion in 2020.
@@jackbelk8527 Don’t sell your soul to China 🇨🇳.They’ll come take it .
Why don’t we just patiently dig a path from one ocean to the other ocean so that you don’t need to make elevation locks? Sure it’ll cost money but people will earn the money and it will become a permanent structure.
the pacific & Atlantic are two different levels [The Pacific is about 20 centimeters higher than the Atlantic]
@ even so it would level out.
The United States should have never given up the Panama Canal.
It is not on our land to begin with. And the US signed treaties with Panama when it was first being built, that it would be turned over to Panama. Those treaties were finally honored in 1999.
Break it into three "parts". Lake, Pacific Canal, Atlantic Canal.
EACH worked on for "long term". Build what you Can, now. All three half done? Link em easy.
Good article.
On Google Earth the land to the south and East of the lake looks fairly flat and there is a kilometer or two between the lake and the border. It would make sense to build a canal there rather than using the lake.
isn't the Eastern part of this canal actually in Costa Rica? Last I heard they were not in agreement.
No, always would've been only in Nica.
@@marimbadearco that is contrary to what the map indicates and what I was told while in Costa Rica.
@@azpete6436 at 13:25 there's the map. The blue curvy line is the San Juan River, the border with Costa Rica
When they have the $$ I'll believe it.
my great grandfather helped to build the Panama Canal...
Good job on this video. But fake dust and scratches is very distracting and annoying!
Your map is incorrect! At that time, the land included The Yucatan peninsula, as Quintana Roo, Campeche, and Chiapas (i can't recall if Tabasco was included)
If the water control system in the Panama Cannel worked correctly they would have no water loss at all simply pump it out to Containers and back in do not allow any water to pass from High to low reuse it over and over only evaporation would be the only loss.
Won't be long before we have the Texas, Mexico canal!
You should talk about the qiddiya city project in saudi arabia.
It's been overdone already.
With the drought in Panama, a second canal is a must. Or, ships can now take the northwest passage to Europe.
The greenies demand that all container ships be grounded until they are converted to solar. 😅
Regardless it still makes economic sense to build this canal, as clearly the Panama Canal is beyond capacity and being overwhelmed. Hopefully they’ll be wise and make it at least 250ft wide and very much deeper to take these vast cargo vessels with relative ease.
As global temperatures continue to rise, and the ice caps recede, there will be no need for the Panama Canal, let alone the Nicaragua Canal. It's the Northwest Passage, baby! Canada, your day is coming.
Good news, Panama charges an outrages price to go through the canal, now they have competition.
Consider a canal at grade - meaning no lock system. That would be a game changer and a huge engineering challenge.
The lake has an elevation of 107 feet. It'll take a bunch of locks.
@@jackbelk8527 Yes and there in lies the problem with the lock design. I could be wrong, but I believe the Panama Canal was originally started by the French with an 'at grade' approach. If the lock system and fresh water lakes could be avoided then the result would be a superior canal though the engineering challenge to do this would be monumental. I presume that the ocean levels on each side of such a canal would not be the same elevation.
Each lock = time = money.
The reduction of locks is where the money is.