A year after the Panama Canal opened its new locks to accommodate larger ships, tugboat captains say canal officials still have not addressed many safety concerns, including a lack of training and a shortage of tugs that can handle the challenges of the expanded waterway.
Capt. Donald Marcus, president of the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots (MM&P), said the labor union outlined its concerns in a statement released in April of this year.
“They have to understand it’s a problem, they just have to address it and put some money in it and get some equipment and train new people,” Marcus said. “It’s like building a massive office tower without sufficient elevators to carry workers quickly to their offices.”
The Panama Canal Authority says the claims by the MM&P are false. “Regarding tugboats, the Panama Canal has more than adequate resources to attend the current operations of the canal and meet the industry demand,” said Monica Martinez, spokeswoman for the PCA. She also rebutted MM&P claims that fewer ships than anticipated are going through the new locks.
The Panama Canal as a whole is setting monthly tonnage records as a result of the expansion, according to the authority. In January, 1,260 ships transited the canal, carrying 36.1 million tons of cargo, according to an authority news release. The record before the new locks opened in June 2016 was 30.4 million tons in October 2014.
However, tugboat captains say there are still major problems in transiting the canal. They say that with the largest ships and two tugs in the new third lane of locks, there is very little room for the tugs to maneuver.
The new canal can handle neo-Panamax vessels up to 1,200 feet long, which is 235 feet longer than possible in the original locks; 160.7 feet wide, an increase of 55 feet; and with a draft of up to 49.9 feet,an increase of 10.4 feet. The new lock chambers are 1,400 feet long by 180 feet wide, according to the Panama Canal Authority website.
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