An Engineering Evaluation of the Panama Canal Widening on East Coast Freight Corridors

By 2014, the Panama Canal will have completed a major project that will expand the capacity of the present lock and lake system to handle a new class of container vessel. These container vessels will be more than twice the size of vessels capable of transiting the canal prior to the expansion completion. With these larger ships come more shipping containers per ship and a new set of challenges for U.S. East Coast ports. This research looks at the effects the expansion of the Panama Canal will have on U.S. East Coast and Gulf Coast ports through three primary research questions. First, what is the existing transfer of containerized freight from the West Coast to the East Coast. Second, what are the tradeoffs between the all water route to the East Coast and the intermodal route via the West Coast. Third, how will the expansion of the Panama Canal affect port operations for East Coast ports. The research of these three questions is limited to containerized freight. The research indicates there is not a significant freight movement from the West Coast to East Coast that is going to create a significant shift after the canal expansion. The largest impact is expected to be larger container ships calling on ports less frequently which will create new operational challenges for ports to consider when planning for the future.