Really interesting - thanks!GLOVIS COSMOS will arrive at the entrance to the Panama Canal later this evening. I expect her to anchor this evening just off the entrance to the canal and then commence her transit in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
She will have paid a fee to jump the queue and so I am pretty confident she won't be waiting long.
The first indication of something happening will be the arrival alongside her of a canal pilot. He will board the ship and she will then head up towards the first set of locks, the Miraflores locks. This is the first of a set of two locks which will lift the ship a total of 54ft. After Miraflores the ship will motor the short distance to the second set of locks, the Pedro Miguel Locks which will lift the ship the final 31ft. The ship will now be level with Gatun lake and she can make her way to the final set of locks, the Gatun locks which will then lower the ship 85ft to the Caribbean in 3 stages.
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 10,000 nm the canal offers a mere 51 mile transit. This comes at a big (well into 6 figures USD) 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 being built 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 now allow ships up to 366m long, 49m wide and with a draft of up to 15m to transit the canal. The new locks are of a modern design which use less water and are regarded as safer and more reliable too.
So a Panamax ship like GLOVIS COSMOS will use the old locks - Miraflores, Pedro Miguel and Gatun locks to transit whereas bigger ships like GLOVIS SUN have to 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 watch the ships going through. The link to the webcams are here (I'm having a problem with the Miraflores camera but the others seem OK) There are plenty of youtube videos and documentaries on the canal, its operation and construction, many of which are very good.
For GLOVIS COSMOS, I would expect her to be at Miraflores around 6-7 am UK time tomorrow. By the time she reaches Gatun locks it will be daylight. I expect her to be in the Caribbean shortly after 3pm UK time.
Thanks to @Mister J for providing the above graphic.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
2021 Shipping Movements
- Thread starter Mr Miserable
- Start date
- Status
Hello @Mr Miserable,
first of all, is it ok for you if I transfer the overview of the Panama Canal to our tracking thread in the German Tesla forum?
Would complement my introduction post well --> Tracking Teslaships
And then a personal assessment of the tracking situation.
I no longer believe that we should completely rule out "scheduled service" on the Asia-Europe route.
After all, on the USA-Asia route, apparently some of it has been done since this quarter.
Greetings from Germany and just my 2 ...
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Sunderland boy
Member
According to Tesla, 3 Ships are expected in the Uk for Q2 all 3 of them are due to arrive in May and they stated all have left Shanghai. Are you aware of which ships could be please
Better late than never, GLOVIS COSMOS is heading into the Panama Canal.
The GLOVIS COSMOS competition will therefore be closed within the hour -last chance, ENTER HERE
The GLOVIS COSMOS competition will therefore be closed within the hour -last chance, ENTER HERE
I have no problem with you copying the Canal piece to the German thread - thanks for asking.
If Tesla didn't use a scheduled service to supply the Israeli market this quarter, you cannot suggest it would use a scheduled service to supply Europe!
The ships that headed off to Asia from Pier 80 were not on Tesla business in my opinion. I believe that RoRo operations have been suspended at Long Beach to ease container congestion there and some of the ships that would have normally used Long Beach are unloading at Pier 80 instead.
I hope this is true but i fear it isn’t unfortunately. I think were probably close to the second ship departing and likely a fortnight away from the third.
GLORIOUS LEADER will be no 1, due to arrive at Southampton on 5 May.
As for the rest, I don't know. As soon as I know anything I will post it here.
2021_M3P
Member
Good Morning @Mr Miserable, what’s your best guess on which ship will be the 2nd vessel to leave Shanghai for Southampton?
Not at the moment - she is scheduled to head to South Africa.
It may have already left - it could be GLOVIS CORONA.
The 1st test will be where she heads to from Singapore. If she heads to Suez she remains a possible, and we won't know for sure until she departs Suez and announces to all that she is heading for Southampton. If she is heading our way she could arrive around 22 May.
At the moment however I have no indication that she is coming to Southampton.
My guess would be for her to depart in the early hours of Thursday morning. I'm not getting good quality info from Pier 80 at the moment.
My daily report is a little early today - out putting some miles on the Tesla today!
GLOVIS COSMOS is currently navigating the Panama Canal.
I expect her to arrive in Zeebrugge around 9 May however the ship should update her AIS with her actual ETA once she is clear of the canal this afternoon. The weather in the Caribbean is looking fine for her transit to the Atlantic.
LAKE FUXIAN is alongside Pier 80 loading. She will be heading to Zeebrugge and at the moment I have her pencilled in to arrive there around 20 May. I have no idea when she will depart Pier 80 at the moment.
GRAND SAPPHIRE As I mentioned yesterday I have my doubts whether this is a Tesla ship or even if she will call at Pier 80 at all. She is due to depart from Benicia late tonight (local time). It will be interesting to see where she heads off to.
GLOVIS CHORUS the next ship to arrive at Pier 80 left her pleasant anchorage off Vancouver Island yesterday to anchor off Vancouver itself. She is not due to arrive at Pier 80 until Saturday but unless she unloads soon, she will be late arriving at Pier 80.
GLORIOUS LEADER This ship is carrying Model 3’s to the UK from China.
She is presently in the Mediterranean making about 15 kts SE of Crete. I have no weather concerns for her in the Mediterranean at the moment.
ETA Southampton 5 May
RCC AFRICA is carrying LHD Model 3's to Israel and EU from Shanghai .
Unbelievably I have still not received a satellite position report from her since Thursday and so the position shown for her is my estimate.
I believe she is in the Red Sea by now and reckon she should be detected by terrestrial AIS receivers later today.
She is due at Ashdod on 2 May. I expect her to arrive in Zeebrugge around 13 May at the earliest.
GLOVIS CORONA is currently heading for Singapore from Shanghai and is on my watch list.
GLOVIS SUN is due to make the Shanghai to Zeebrugge run shortly. She is currently anchored off Shanghai waiting to enter.
GLOVIS SIRIUS. She is heading to Shanghai and should arrive there on 2 May. A veteran of several European runs from Pier 80 she is worth keeping an eye on.
GLOVIS COSMOS is currently navigating the Panama Canal.
I expect her to arrive in Zeebrugge around 9 May however the ship should update her AIS with her actual ETA once she is clear of the canal this afternoon. The weather in the Caribbean is looking fine for her transit to the Atlantic.
LAKE FUXIAN is alongside Pier 80 loading. She will be heading to Zeebrugge and at the moment I have her pencilled in to arrive there around 20 May. I have no idea when she will depart Pier 80 at the moment.
GRAND SAPPHIRE As I mentioned yesterday I have my doubts whether this is a Tesla ship or even if she will call at Pier 80 at all. She is due to depart from Benicia late tonight (local time). It will be interesting to see where she heads off to.
GLOVIS CHORUS the next ship to arrive at Pier 80 left her pleasant anchorage off Vancouver Island yesterday to anchor off Vancouver itself. She is not due to arrive at Pier 80 until Saturday but unless she unloads soon, she will be late arriving at Pier 80.
GLORIOUS LEADER This ship is carrying Model 3’s to the UK from China.
She is presently in the Mediterranean making about 15 kts SE of Crete. I have no weather concerns for her in the Mediterranean at the moment.
ETA Southampton 5 May
RCC AFRICA is carrying LHD Model 3's to Israel and EU from Shanghai .
Unbelievably I have still not received a satellite position report from her since Thursday and so the position shown for her is my estimate.
I believe she is in the Red Sea by now and reckon she should be detected by terrestrial AIS receivers later today.
She is due at Ashdod on 2 May. I expect her to arrive in Zeebrugge around 13 May at the earliest.
GLOVIS CORONA is currently heading for Singapore from Shanghai and is on my watch list.
GLOVIS SUN is due to make the Shanghai to Zeebrugge run shortly. She is currently anchored off Shanghai waiting to enter.
GLOVIS SIRIUS. She is heading to Shanghai and should arrive there on 2 May. A veteran of several European runs from Pier 80 she is worth keeping an eye on.
As GLOVIS COSMOS navigates the Panama Canal the weather in both the Caribbean and particularly the Atlantic will be examined to assist in the choice of route across the Atlantic. The first decision is where to enter the Atlantic - via the Windward Passage which lies between Cuba and Haiti or the Mona Passage which lies between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic?
Then there is the decision on whether to cross the Atlantic on a great circle course (the shortest) or to follow a rhumb line course?
The latter is useful in the winter months as it keeps the ship to the east of the Atlantic and away from the worst of the Atlantic storms.
I will do a post on what a great circle and rhumb line course are later in the week.
Nowadays global maritime routing services can assist in the decision by factoring in currents, winds, etc and supplying the most economic course for the ship to follow. In the most modern of ships this navigational assistance can be dynamic, live via satellite. In some large companies the route decision will be made by a navigational department staffed by experienced mariners. In most cases however the master of the vessel will decide. Sadly the basis of this decision can often be made on the basis of what route was taken last time, or what routes are already stored in the vessels management system.
As a matter of interest, according to my records, last time GLOVIS COSMOS did this route in Jan 20 she went via the Mona Passage.
Then there is the decision on whether to cross the Atlantic on a great circle course (the shortest) or to follow a rhumb line course?
The latter is useful in the winter months as it keeps the ship to the east of the Atlantic and away from the worst of the Atlantic storms.
I will do a post on what a great circle and rhumb line course are later in the week.
Nowadays global maritime routing services can assist in the decision by factoring in currents, winds, etc and supplying the most economic course for the ship to follow. In the most modern of ships this navigational assistance can be dynamic, live via satellite. In some large companies the route decision will be made by a navigational department staffed by experienced mariners. In most cases however the master of the vessel will decide. Sadly the basis of this decision can often be made on the basis of what route was taken last time, or what routes are already stored in the vessels management system.
As a matter of interest, according to my records, last time GLOVIS COSMOS did this route in Jan 20 she went via the Mona Passage.
Portofzeebrugge.be reporting 10th May @ 22:00 CEST arrival for Glovis Cosmos
Last edited:
- Status
Similar threads
