The Panama Canal has been a vital trade route in its 91 years of existence as the manmade shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. With continued expansion and management improvements, it will continue to be relevant as the canal approaches its centennial birthday.
Alberto Aleman Zubieta, CEO of the Panama Canal Authority, gave a lecture entitled “The Panama Canal: A Key Player in International Trade,” about the past, present and future of the canal at the Laura Lee Blanton Building Friday afternoon.
Zubieta’s son and daughter are SMU students, and he is a graduate of the civil and industrial engineering schools at Texas A&M University.
“Texas is one of my favorite places – I’m a Texan at heart,” Zubieta said.
Zubieta called the canal “one of the greatest engineering feats of the world,” and said with its construction, “human ingenuity won over nature to unite the two oceans and represents the capacity of the human mind.”
His speech was supported by a colorful digital slide show. The speech started with a section Zubieta called “Canal 101.” He explained how the canal runs north to south and that it operates with a series of locks on either side of the canal.
“The three sets ofà locks of the two-lane canal work as water elevators that lift the ships to the level of Gatun Lake, 26 meters over sea level, and later lower them again to sea level on the other side of the Isthmus of Panama,” according to the canal’s Web site.
Zubieta said when a ship first enters the lock system, it sits on two feet of water and is only two feet away from the lock wall on both its port and starboard sides.
When the United States controlled the canal, Zubieta served as the Administrator of the Panama Canal Commission. He was elected to his current post during that time and served the PCC and the ACP concurrently to ensure a smooth transition between the organizations. He was re-elected to his post earlier this year.
During the transition, the PCC and ACP had a program to replace all of the American workers with Panamanians.
“People thought Panama couldn’t control it [the canal],” he said, “but the Panamanians are running better than ever.”
Zubieta said the key to the ACP’s success has been running the canal “like a business.” He called the canal’s success “a source of national pride.”
Zubieta said since the transfer of power, the canal has seen a rise in numbers of large ships that use the route, a decrease in the time in takes to get through the canal, a decrease in accidents and a decrease in operational costs.
The ACP has optimistic goals for the future of the canal. In the master plan for the canal, the ACP would like to add a third lane with wider locks to accommodate larger ships. There are also plans to implement “water saving basins” for the locks that will reduce water use by 7 percent. In between the locks, the ACP would like to deepen the navigational channel and build a new tie-up station for ships.
In a question and answer session following the lecture, Zubieta entertained a series of questions from Dallas City Councilman Bill Blaydes concerning the canal’s impact on the state of Texas, specifically about the Port of Houston, and how the expanded canal can help trade in Dallas. Blaydes said the canal’s ability to increase traffic flow would also increase the importance of Panama to the trade of United States, Canada and Mexico.
Zubieta also discussed the cost of traveling through the canal. He said the canal is a very inexpensive part of the shipping industry and that the average container ship pays about $52 a container to pass between the two oceans. Zubieta gave the example of a container full of Apple’s iPod Nanos and how each item in the container splits the $52 fee.
Dean of the Engineering School Geoffrey Orsak was also at the lecture and said that the canal is an example of how “engineering projects have vast global impact.” He cited how the canal can make Panama an “independent country” and that “those messages are not lost in our students.”
The event was co-sponsored by the International Baccalaureate Scholars Program and the SMU School of Engineering. The IB Scholars Program is in its first year at SMU and is being managed by the International Office.
The International Baccalaureate degree is a high school diploma that is available at international schools all over the world and has recently become available to students in the United States, according to Michael Clark, who works in the International Office and is the coordinator of the IB Scholars Program.
High school students in the program must write an “enhanced essay” and take a class entitled “Theory of Knowledge” in order to receive the degree. Clark said SMU’s program was implemented as a recruiting tool to encourage IB students to attend SMU. In addition to scholarship money, the Scholars Program will “design special programming opportunities,” Clark said.
Currently, there are 40 SMU students that are IB diploma holders. Twelve are first years and are members of the Scholars Program. The 28 upperclassmen already enrolled were extended invitations to join the Scholars Program, as well. In the future, the IB Scholars Program plans to offer events that will help IB graduates not only come to SMU but also use the experience gained from obtaining the degree in the university setting, as well as in the business world.