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 GLOVIS CAPTAIN can use the old locks - Miraflores, Pedro Miguel and Gatun locks to transit whereas bigger ships like DONINGTON and GLOVIS SIGMA 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 GLOVIS CAPTAIN, 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
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2020 Shipping Movements
- Thread starter Mr Miserable
- Start date
Really interesting thanks, Mr. Miserable. Your first name isn’t Les by any chance, is it?
LongRanger
Active Member
Actually, at this time of the year I am normally to be found supping claret in Dordogneshire and wondering how it will all fit in the boot.
In previous years the air suspension did a fantastic job of maintaining straight & level but it would be a problem this year with a Model 3. I suggested Mrs M would have to go by train. That didn't go down well so here we are in le chateau Chez Moi. Food isn't as good as last year but I'll keep that to myself...
In previous years the air suspension did a fantastic job of maintaining straight & level but it would be a problem this year with a Model 3. I suggested Mrs M would have to go by train. That didn't go down well so here we are in le chateau Chez Moi. Food isn't as good as last year but I'll keep that to myself...
DanAndTheBeard
Member
LongRanger
Active Member
Since the GLOVIS CAPTAIN has entered the Panama Canal (albeit 2+ hrs late) it's competition is now closed.
I will announce the winner of the GRAND DAHLIA competition later today!
I will announce the winner of the GRAND DAHLIA competition later today!
A fairly brief update today:
GRAND DAHLIA She continues on track and on schedule to arrive at Zeebrugge on Thursday. Hopefully by tomorrow I should be able to confirm whether she is heading to Southampton afterwards.
Competition results will be subject of a separate post. (Some pinpoint plotting required! After the Silverstone GP)
GLOVIS CAPTAIN A bit of a slow start this morning (I can't remember the last ship of ours that cleared Pedro Miguel locks in daylight) but she has cleared the first two sets of locks, Miraflores and Pedro Miguel, and is now heading for the final set, Gatun locks. By the way, have I mentioned recently that an anagram of GLOVIS CAPTAIN is vaginal optics? Anyway, she should clear the canal later this afternoon and enter the Caribbean where it is a little choppy with wave heights of 3.5m and a strong Easterly wind. She then has the choice of entering the Atlantic via the Windward Passage or the Mona Passage. The last 2 ships (GLOVIS SUN and GRAND DAHLIA) chose the Windward Passage but it’s worth mentioning that last time the GLOVIS CAPTAIN did the route in February, she chose the Mona passage.
RCC ASIA She is still loading at Pier 80. According to my, usually reliable, source in San Francisco she won't be leaving until early Tuesday morning which will put her in to Zeebrugge around 1 Sep.
GLOVIS STELLA She is anchored in the Bay off Pier 80 and is due alongside on either Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. No clues yet to her destination.
No other changes from yesterday although worringly during a brief check this morning I couldn’t actually confirm that DONINGTON is coming to Europe. Still some more checks to do though ….
GRAND DAHLIA She continues on track and on schedule to arrive at Zeebrugge on Thursday. Hopefully by tomorrow I should be able to confirm whether she is heading to Southampton afterwards.
Competition results will be subject of a separate post. (Some pinpoint plotting required! After the Silverstone GP)
GLOVIS CAPTAIN A bit of a slow start this morning (I can't remember the last ship of ours that cleared Pedro Miguel locks in daylight) but she has cleared the first two sets of locks, Miraflores and Pedro Miguel, and is now heading for the final set, Gatun locks. By the way, have I mentioned recently that an anagram of GLOVIS CAPTAIN is vaginal optics? Anyway, she should clear the canal later this afternoon and enter the Caribbean where it is a little choppy with wave heights of 3.5m and a strong Easterly wind. She then has the choice of entering the Atlantic via the Windward Passage or the Mona Passage. The last 2 ships (GLOVIS SUN and GRAND DAHLIA) chose the Windward Passage but it’s worth mentioning that last time the GLOVIS CAPTAIN did the route in February, she chose the Mona passage.
RCC ASIA She is still loading at Pier 80. According to my, usually reliable, source in San Francisco she won't be leaving until early Tuesday morning which will put her in to Zeebrugge around 1 Sep.
GLOVIS STELLA She is anchored in the Bay off Pier 80 and is due alongside on either Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. No clues yet to her destination.
No other changes from yesterday although worringly during a brief check this morning I couldn’t actually confirm that DONINGTON is coming to Europe. Still some more checks to do though ….
Okey. I now see a lot more cars on the inventory site at tesla.com/no
That means there is a large amount of cars heading for Norway/Drammen right? Does that give you a better idea on witch ship my M3LR saild with? And do you have a estimate time i would expect VIN and delivery date?
Thanks
Lucanesque
Member
This is a brilliant thread, came across it by google accident... based on what others have established (do Tesla tell you ship name, or is there a secret way to find it?) I'm assuming my M3 is on Glovis Captain for me to pick up from Heathrow on 4th Sept!
Drew57
Active ember
No but I hope Sir Embalmer & Limbs Reamer don't reveal the true Mr Miserable
LongRanger
Active Member
Been out chopping stuff off trees, came back in and caught this, GLOVIS CAPTAIN exiting the Gatun locks and having checked on MarineTraffic is now out of the Colon harbour and heading out into the big pond
Looks like a rainy day as @Mr Miserable mentioned
Looks like a rainy day as @Mr Miserable mentioned
GRAND DAHLIA Competition Result
At midday Z today the GRAND DAHLIA was at position N43.693 W38.287
When plotted onto the Grid that position lies in grid square T6.
So once again we have a direct hit and @spursman is the winner!
@Tracker was close, but no banana.
There is no prize, but I'm sure if you ask nicely @Roy W. will give you an Octopus referral (Perhaps even a year's supply of them!)
Well done to spursman - the GLOVIS CAPTAIN competition closed this morning (Result next Saturday) and so the next one you can enter will hopefully be RCC ASIA from Tuesday.
At midday Z today the GRAND DAHLIA was at position N43.693 W38.287
When plotted onto the Grid that position lies in grid square T6.
So once again we have a direct hit and @spursman is the winner!
@Tracker was close, but no banana.
There is no prize, but I'm sure if you ask nicely @Roy W. will give you an Octopus referral (Perhaps even a year's supply of them!)
Well done to spursman - the GLOVIS CAPTAIN competition closed this morning (Result next Saturday) and so the next one you can enter will hopefully be RCC ASIA from Tuesday.
The GLOVIS CAPTAIN is now well clear of the canal and has confirmed her destination as Zeebrugge with an ETA of 21 Aug, as predicted.
The question now is, which way is she going to enter the Atlantic?
She is just approaching the end of a traffic separation scheme (a mandatory one-way corridor) and awkwardly we will also lose terrestrial AIS coverage about now too.
I'll check again in a few hours and let you know...
Note: Route forecast on Marinetraffic is not reliable.
The question now is, which way is she going to enter the Atlantic?
She is just approaching the end of a traffic separation scheme (a mandatory one-way corridor) and awkwardly we will also lose terrestrial AIS coverage about now too.
I'll check again in a few hours and let you know...
Note: Route forecast on Marinetraffic is not reliable.
No but I hope Sir Embalmer & Limbs Reamer don't reveal the true Mr Miserable
I see what you did there...
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