. Earth Science News .
TRADE WARS
Panama Canal chief unfazed by Colombia rail rival

by Staff Writers
Panama City (AFP) Feb 16, 2011
The administrator of the Panama Canal dismissed Wednesday the notion the key waterway could be under threat from a Chinese-backed project to build a new rail link across northern Colombia.

"I don't see that as a competition issue," Alberto Aleman Zubieta, the head of the Panama Canal Authority, told AFP. "We are a very important freight shipment hub, and shipping by sea is the most efficient (method)."

The Financial Times reported on Sunday that China was looking to construct a new 220-kilometre (136-mile) railway from the Pacific to a new city near Cartagena in northern Colombia.

Chinese goods would be assembled for re-export throughout the Americas and raw materials would make the return journey to China, the report said.

"It's a real proposal... and it is quite advanced," Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was quoted as saying in Monday's Financial Times.

"The studies (the Chinese) have made on the costs of transporting per tonne, the cost of investment, they all work out."

China has ramped up investment and lending to the developing world, including Latin America, a strategy widely viewed as aimed partly at securing access to the raw materials needed to fuel its fast-growing economy.

Trade between China and Colombia in the first eight months of 2010 reached $4.8 billion, an increase of more than 73 percent over the same period in 2009, according to the Chinese commerce ministry.

The Panama Canal -- long considered an engineering marvel -- was built between 1904 and 1914 by the United States after an initial French attempt failed. It was returned to Panama's control 11 years ago.

Each year, around five percent of all international trade passes through the 80-kilometer (50-mile) man-made artery linking the Atlantic to the Pacific, with around 40 ships passing through the canal each day.

Last year, work began on a 5.2-billion-dollar project to enlarge the canal by constructing a third set of locks to ensure that today's super-size container ships, cruise liners and oil tankers -- many of which are too wide for the canal -- will be able to navigate the waterway in the future.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Global Trade News



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


TRADE WARS
Deportees a China-Taiwan issue: Philippines
Manila (AFP) Feb 16, 2011
A row over 14 Taiwanese deported by the Philippines to China is an issue between Beijing and Taipei and does not involve Manila, a government minister said Wednesday. The Taiwanese were arrested and deported along with 10 Chinese suspects last month after they allegedly swindled $20 million in an international scam targeting mainland Chinese. Taiwan expressed fury and told Manila they sh ... read more







TRADE WARS
Australia flags taxpayer levy for floods

Lucky crash escape for Honduran ministers

UN envoy touts Haiti education 'overhaul'

Australia PM introduces contentious floods tax

TRADE WARS
Smartphones the new El Dorado for computer criminals

Long lost silent movies returned to US

Google unveils payment platform for online content

Portable devices linked to US pedestrian death spike

TRADE WARS
Thailand closes dive spots due to reef damage

China earmarks $303 bn for safe water: report

Kenya's Fisheries Management Promotes Species That Grow Larger And Live Longer

23 fishermen missing in Russia: report

TRADE WARS
VIMS Team Glides Into Polar Research

Volcanic vents found in Antarctic waters

Researchers Map Out Ice Sheets Shrinking During Ice Age

Arctic Climate Variation Under Ancient Greenhouse Conditions

TRADE WARS
Philippines rice 2010 farm output hit by weather

Toward Controlling Fungus That Caused Irish Potato Famine

Higher CO2 could change plant evolution

China says drought won't affect world food prices

TRADE WARS
Sri Lanka flood damage $600 mln

Powerful quake rocks Chile year after disaster

Another Iceland volcano may erupt

UN's Sri Lanka flood appeal falling short

TRADE WARS
Chinese firm signs $1.2bn Khartoum airport deal

South Sudan: Born under a bad sign?

Tunisian army patrols ports to stop migrant exodus

China FM urges West to lift sanctions on Zimbabwe

TRADE WARS
Mathematical Model Explains How Complex Societies Emerge And Collapse

Discovery Could Change Views Of Human Evolution

Multiculturalism loses appeal in Europe

Bleak future seen for U.K. brain research


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement