Florida startup is challenging the Panama Canal

Trade & Border IssuesHot Spots
Written By Jennifer Joslyn
Evan Peters running at the speed of light.

Speeding Evan Peters GIF By 20th Century Studios via GIPHY

🇵🇦 Florida startup is challenging the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal has long served as a convenient shortcut for ships crossing between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, making up a series of lochs that serve a plethora of ships each day. This shortcut surpasses the long journey around Cape Horn at the tip of South America, taking ships through some of the most dangerous waters in the world. Now, a Fort Lauderdale, FL-based startup wants to make that shortcut even shorter. Zergratran (short for “zero gravity transportation”), the startup in question, is searching for funding that would support the construction of a tunnel that would whisk containers underground with the same technology that fuels Japan’s famous bullet trains. This tunnel would be dug in Colombia, just south of Panama, and would send containers coast-to-coast in under thirty minutes. Does this plan have legs?

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Panama Canal Maintains Restrictions as Drought Impacts Lake Levels

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Initiatives by the Panama Canal to Combat Water Scarcity
Initiatives by the Panama Canal to Combat Water Scarcity

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Panama Canal Faces Century's Worst Drought

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Panama has been experiencing an extended period of drought, with no signs of improvement in the coming weeks or the rest of the spring season

Tug boat is crushed by a ship in the Panama Canal
Tug boat is crushed by a ship in the Panama Canal

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Florida startup is challenging the Panama Canal
Florida startup is challenging the Panama Canal

The Panama Canal has long served as a convenient shortcut for ships crossing between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, making up a series of lochs that serve a plethora of ships each day.

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Container ships are lined up in the Panama Canal
Container ships are lined up in the Panama Canal

According to Bloomberg, 101 container ships are currently queuing for passage through the Panama Canal, making the average six more than typical.

Jennifer Joslyn
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