The new ones will be four hundred twenty-seven meters long and fifty-five meters wide. They will be able to handle ships with drafts of more than fifteen meters. Currently ships can ride only twelve meters deep in the canal.
新船闸长427米,宽55米。新船闸可供吃水高于15米的船只通行。目前,运河中可通行的船只最多吃水12米。
Engineers could not make the new locks too big. Mr. Quijano says the plans had to balance the size of the locks with the cost for ships to use the canal.
工程师不会将船闸建得过大。 Quijano先生称船闸的修建的大小会考虑船只通行的费用。
JORGE LUIS QUIJANO: "We had to look at the optimal size of vessel that would make the return on the investment of a high value to us. So we chose what size of vessels that could actually pay for this project."
JORGE LUIS QUIJANO:“我们不得不研究出能够给我们打来最大投资收益的船闸大小,因此,我们会建造出适合能为这项工程买单的船只的船闸。”
__________________________The new locks are set to open in twenty fourteen, the one hundredth anniversary of the Panama Canal.
新建造的船闸会在2014年正式启用,这正好是巴拿马运河100周年。