In Colombia and Nicaragua, officials are considering building transport links between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans that are being framed as alternatives to the Panama Canal. In an email interview, Jean-Paul Rodrigue, a professor in the department of global studies and geography at Hofstra University, discussed the viability of alternatives to the Panama Canal.
WPR: What are the feasible alternatives to the Panama Canal, and how do they compare in terms of cost to build and transit advantages?
Jean-Paul Rodrigue: First, it is important to underline that there are no complete alternatives to the Panama Canal -- that is, none that would be able to accommodate the full volume handled by the canal. So the discussion concerns "niche alternatives" that have the potential to capture a portion -- often small -- of the canal’s current and future traffic. They come in two categories: the existing alternatives and the potential alternatives.