The Panama Canal Gets an Expansion

The century-old Panama Canal is in the midst of an expansion that is meant to keep it in business for many years to come. But can the famed Canal keep up with the container ship-building boom that has ports from the West Coast to East busy rebuilding?

DnA talks to Bill Ferehawk and Dylan Robertson, directors of a new film Panama Canal Supersized, and the project’s lead engineer Mike Newberry, vice president of MWH Global.

To get a sense of how global shipping is playing out locally, DnA headed to the Port of Long Beach. Port spokesman Lee Peterson and Noel Hacegaba, Managing Director of Commercial Operations, explain how the port is adapting to mega ships that keep on growing.

Plus, DnA spoke to George Scribner, a Disney Imagineer who grew up in Panama and is painting the canal’s expansion for the Panama Canal Authority. He explains why the canal still stirs the imagination over a century after it was first completed.

Panama Canal Supersized will air on The History Channel this Saturday at 9 PM on the East/West coasts and at 8 PM Central Time.

For more on the impact of big ships on the Ports of LA and Long Beach, visit Cargoland.