Panama Canal’s Continuing Draft Reductions Pose Threat to Trade
Buried lede: it's due to a drought reducing water availability for the locks. Cause is climate change. https://maritime-executive.com/article/panama-canal-s-continuing-draft-reductions-pose-threat-to-trade
@dnavinci @cstross There were two competing canal plans; the one we have, using fresh water and going over the mountains in Panama, and a sea level canal through Nicaragua.
There is a Chinese businessman with forty-plus years left of fifty year rights to built and operate such a canal from the Nicaraguan government; the project is considered defunct but could wake up.
Lake Nicaragua is part of that route; "ecological disaster" is a mild term for salting it up.
@dnavinci @cstross Probably the least awful option is massively upgrading the Isthmus of Tehuantepec railway connection, but that still involves loading and unloading ships.
The deeply crazed option would be various PANAMAX+ bathtubs and the world's largest funicular railway. (On the plus side, presumably you could use the braking energy from descending bathtubs to provide most of the energy requirements to lift ascending bathtubs.)
Charlie Stross
DNAvinci
Graydon