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The Nicaragua Canal: potential impact on international shipping and its attendant challenges

Maritime Economics & Logistics volume 21, pages 79–98 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

The construction of an interoceanic canal in Nicaragua, a longstanding controversy, has once again become a source of concern in recent years, in both the global shipping industry and the world at large. Since the canal was green-lighted by the Nicaraguan government, scientists and specialists have sharply criticized its potential to inflict lasting environmental and societal damage. The vocal doubts raised by many experts regarding the canal’s feasibility have resulted in several recent postponements of construction. Studies of the project’s challenges and its potential impact on international shipping suggest that the canal will potentially have wide-ranging implications on vessel sizes, the global routing of maritime freight flows and port development along the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines. Many problems now hinder the project, from its economic and engineering viability to its environmental and safety hazards. This research provides a systematic analysis of the potential impact of the Nicaragua Canal on international shipping, as well as the various challenges the project faces.

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Source Gross (2014)

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51409157), Shanghai Pujiang Program (17PJC053), Program of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education of China (14YJC630008) and Shanghai Science & Technology Committee Research Project (15590501700). At the time of writing, Xiang Liu was partially funded by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the School of Engineering both at Rutgers University. The authors are solely responsible for the views in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Transport and Communications, Shanghai Maritime University, 1550 Haigang Avenue, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Jihong Chen, Hang Yu & Chen Yang

  2. Center for Eurasian Maritime and Inland Logistics (CEMIL), Shanghai Maritime University, 1550 Haigang Avenue, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, 201306, China

    Theo Notteboom

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ, USA

    Xiang Liu

  4. Department of Shipping, Trade and Transport, University of the Aegean, Chios, Greece

    Nikitas Nikitakos

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  1. Jihong Chen
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  2. Theo Notteboom
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  3. Xiang Liu
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  4. Hang Yu
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  5. Nikitas Nikitakos
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Correspondence to Theo Notteboom.

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Chen, J., Notteboom, T., Liu, X. et al. The Nicaragua Canal: potential impact on international shipping and its attendant challenges. Marit Econ Logist 21, 79–98 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41278-017-0095-3

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Keywords

  • Nicaragua Canal
  • Panama Canal
  • International shipping
  • Impact analysis