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2020 Shipping Movements
- Thread starter Mr Miserable
- Start date
Sorry if this has been covered, but just to clarify..
In the event that the Glovis Sun does not proceed to Southampton from Zeebrugge, what will happen to the cars apparently in transit for UK delivery in Mid August?
Load on to another ship to Southampton from Zee., or postpone deliveries until the next ship arrives from San Fran?
The ship won’t just decide not to go there - if Tesla has planned on her being the one to take the cars to Southampton she will take the cars to Southampton... If not then there will be already planned and taken into account. your delivery date won’t be affected
The Panama Canal provides a shortcut for shipping travelling from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean and vice-versa. Instead of having to route to the south of South America and then back up a distance of about 5000 nm the canal offers a mere 50 mile transit. This comes at a price, calculated by a complicated formula, designed to maximise revenue to the canal operators. The original canal opened in 1914 and was an immediate success. In the first year it handled about 1000 ships and by 2008 it was handling nearly 15,000. These figures alone don’t tell the whole story because ships were getting bigger and bigger and one of the limits to the size of ships was the size of the locks in the Panama Canal. Ships that were built to fit (just) into the locks were described as Panamax ships. That is why so many cruise ships, container ships and car carriers are 32.3m wide and have a draft of under 12.6m.
The expansion of global trade and the increase in shipping meant that the canal was becoming a bottleneck with frequent delays and queues of ships waiting to transit. Fees for queue jumping became ever more expensive and ever more necessary to avoid delays. Alternatives to the canal were seriously being considered eg the NW passage and a number of alternative canal routes that avoided Panama completely. Panama relies on the income from the canal and could not afford for any of the alternatives plans to be viable and so the plan for the expansion to the existing canal system was commenced in 2007 and completed in 2016. This introduced two new sets of locks built parallel to the existing locks. Significantly, they allow ships up to 366m long, 49m wide and with a draft of up to 15m to transit the canal. The new locks were of modern design which used less water and are regarded as a safer and more reliable too.
So a Panamax ship like GRAND DAHLIA and GLOVIS CAPTAIN can use the old locks - Miraflores, Pedro Miguel and Gatun locks to transit whereas bigger ships like GLOVIS SUN and GLOVIS SPLENDOR will use the new locks at Cocoli and Agua Clara.
The canal is big business and so is generally a pretty slick operation entirely dependent on how much you have paid. The Tesla ships are normally booked in several weeks in advance and are given a pretty high priority. Delays of more than 24 hours are rare and normally we can expect the ships to start their northbound transit in the small hours of the morning and be in the Caribbean around 8 hours later.
There are webcams at the locks so you can see a ship going through. The links to the webcams are here.
For GRAND DAHLIA, I expect her to be at Miraflores around 7am UK time tomorrow, Pedro Miguel around 9am UK time and Gatun locks around 14:00 UK time. By the time she reaches Gatun it will be daylight.
Thanks to @Mister J for posting this graphic
The expansion of global trade and the increase in shipping meant that the canal was becoming a bottleneck with frequent delays and queues of ships waiting to transit. Fees for queue jumping became ever more expensive and ever more necessary to avoid delays. Alternatives to the canal were seriously being considered eg the NW passage and a number of alternative canal routes that avoided Panama completely. Panama relies on the income from the canal and could not afford for any of the alternatives plans to be viable and so the plan for the expansion to the existing canal system was commenced in 2007 and completed in 2016. This introduced two new sets of locks built parallel to the existing locks. Significantly, they allow ships up to 366m long, 49m wide and with a draft of up to 15m to transit the canal. The new locks were of modern design which used less water and are regarded as a safer and more reliable too.
So a Panamax ship like GRAND DAHLIA and GLOVIS CAPTAIN can use the old locks - Miraflores, Pedro Miguel and Gatun locks to transit whereas bigger ships like GLOVIS SUN and GLOVIS SPLENDOR will use the new locks at Cocoli and Agua Clara.
The canal is big business and so is generally a pretty slick operation entirely dependent on how much you have paid. The Tesla ships are normally booked in several weeks in advance and are given a pretty high priority. Delays of more than 24 hours are rare and normally we can expect the ships to start their northbound transit in the small hours of the morning and be in the Caribbean around 8 hours later.
There are webcams at the locks so you can see a ship going through. The links to the webcams are here.
For GRAND DAHLIA, I expect her to be at Miraflores around 7am UK time tomorrow, Pedro Miguel around 9am UK time and Gatun locks around 14:00 UK time. By the time she reaches Gatun it will be daylight.
Thanks to @Mister J for posting this graphic
Forgot to mention..
The GRAND DAHLIA competition closes as soon as she enters the locks tomorrow.
I suggest that, if you haven't already, you enter now.
In the event of 2 people choosing the same square, the person who chose it first will be the winner, so get in there quick.
The GRAND DAHLIA competition closes as soon as she enters the locks tomorrow.
I suggest that, if you haven't already, you enter now.
In the event of 2 people choosing the same square, the person who chose it first will be the winner, so get in there quick.
I can’t bloody wait, my SR+ is on that boat!!!Getting there! (Zeebrugge is just N of Bruges, about where the "M" in "Middelburg" is on this shot
View attachment 571429
GRAND DAHLIA on the move now.
Running a couple of hours later than I expected.
She has picked up her canal pilot (a requirement for every ship transiting the locks) and is now heading for the Miraflores locks.
Running a couple of hours later than I expected.
She has picked up her canal pilot (a requirement for every ship transiting the locks) and is now heading for the Miraflores locks.
GRAND DAHLIA is now entering the Miraflores locks.
This set comprise 2 chambers which will lift the ship a total of 54 ft.
This set comprise 2 chambers which will lift the ship a total of 54 ft.
Ya noticed that! 2 days before earlier estimates, is that realistic? Does it take a shorter route across the atlantic?
GRAND DAHLIA is now heading into the Pedro Miguel locks. This is a single chamber lift of 31 ft.
The reason why the Miraflores locks are not a 3 chamber lift, like the Gatun locks on the Atlantic side, but a 2 chamber lift with the 3rd lift being conducted by the Pedro Miguel locks, is because there is a tectonic fault line which runs where the 3rd lift would be situated.
The reason why the Miraflores locks are not a 3 chamber lift, like the Gatun locks on the Atlantic side, but a 2 chamber lift with the 3rd lift being conducted by the Pedro Miguel locks, is because there is a tectonic fault line which runs where the 3rd lift would be situated.
She made a very fast transit to the locks & encountered no significant delay at the locks. She is obviously not expecting any issues on the Atlantic crossing either.
My calculations have her arriving on the 14th but I suppose late on the 13 th is possible.
One thing is that she really needs to look at the weather enroute. She will want to avoid the storm that is building in the NE Caribbean at the moment and she will also want to avoid catching up with the remnants of Hurricane Isaias later in the week.
She has basically a choice of 2 routes from Panama to enter the Atlantic.
The Windward Passage is the one on the left and the Mona passage is the one on the right.
We shall see which one she chooses
GRAND DAHLIA exits the Pedro Miguel locks.
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