Panama, Republic of Panama 091912 Post-panamax container ships, ships which are bigger than the width of the Panama Canal Locks allotted- beam size, maneuver at the Balboa Port in Panama City on September 19, 2012 and are then unloaded. (Essdras M Suarez/ EMS Photography) BEHIND THE SCENES: The visit to the port was the second part to the Panama Canal expansion story. The idea was to see these super-sized ships in action. Since these can't cross the canal until the new Third Set of Locks is opened allegedly on 2015, they come to both sides of the canal, the Pacific and Atlantic sides, and unload their cargo at these ports. The containers are then shipped via railroad to the other side of the canal where they are in turn loaded into ships in order to continue their voyage. EXTRA NOTE: This was pretty cool since I was allowed to climb atop of one of the cranes where I could get a bird's eve view of the operations. Also I got to take a look at all the stacked up containers and the modern skyline of Panama. Our guide pointed this view to us and said, "Without these- (the containers)- you couldn't have that- (the modern buildings)." Very astute observation on his part. TECH STUFF: two cameras Mark IV, and Nikon D3s, two lenses 16-35mm 2.8 and 70-200mm 2.8 + 1.4 respectively.
