Talk:Panamax
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[edit] Categories
Ships are arranged in several informal categories as to draft, as are ports (according to the largest category of ship they can handle). From least to greatest :
- Handy Size, aka "Handymax" (10-60,000 tons)
- Panamax (60-80,000 tons)
- Aframax (80-120,000 tons) (aka Cape Size)
- Suezmax (120-200,000 tons)
Ore/oil ports, handling
- VLCC (200-320,000 tons)
- ULCC (320,000 tons and more)
LCC stands for Large Crude Carrier
IIRC, even the largest war vessels are at most "Suezmax." Some of the world's most important ports are also less deep, and handle less tonnage, than their ore/oil equivalents. — Anonymous
Please sign your posts! — Johantheghost 10:36, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
- handymax: a dry bulk vessel with deadweight between 35,000 to 50,000 tons [1]
- Aframax tankers are usually between 80,000 and 120,000 deadweight tons [2]
— Johantheghost 10:46, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Water problem 1
The Panama canal cannot be enlarge because of a shortage of water.... would it matter if the freshwater in the canal were replenished with saltwater available in large quantities in the nearby oceans? -- Tabletop 11:05, 26 October 2005 (UTC)
Pumping salt water, with the associated species of fish, clams, weeds, invertebrates, etc., would constitute a massive environmental impact on the lake, and could potentially destroy what is currently a healthy tropical ecosystem. As you will see in the Panama Canal article, water recycling schemes have been proposed; these would involve pumping fresh water that is being drained from the locks back up, and would hence have a very minimal impact. -- Johantheghost 11:28, 26 October 2005 (UTC)
Fair enough. The recycling scheme requires a holding tank of size equal to the lock itself.
Tabletop 11:41, 27 October 2005 (UTC)
That would work, but I don't think it's required — since the water draining from the locks is fresh, it can be pumped into the lake... ? Johantheghost 17:36, 27 October 2005 (UTC)
A tank at the same level of the lock would require less energy for pumping, than pumping the freshwater back up to the lake. There is also the point that it is desirable that the pumping be done very quickly, and the pipes necessarily have to be of a very great diameter. A tank beside the lock could have lots of big short pipes, while the pipes back up to the lake would necessarily be much longer, and the number of pipes might be fewer for lack of space.
Tabletop 11:35, 28 October 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Terminology for Post-Panamax
Now that the expansion of the canal has been approved the term post-panamax needed to be split in two:
- one term for ships too big for the original canal, but small enough for the enlarged canal.
- another term for ships too big even for the enlarged canal.
Suggestions?
Tabletop 10:51, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Why does the canal have locks?
Seeing as the oceans on either side are at the same height, I'm not sure why there would be locks, and I don't think the article answers this. Would this then mean that they decided to build two equal sets of locks in height at each end so that the mid section of the canal would either be above or below sea level so that they wouldn't have to do massive excavation?
