I thought some might be interested in some data that a good friend
just sent me.

This may be of interest to you. It is a summary of my total expenses
to
transit the Suez and Panama Canals.

Crossing Information Suez Panama
Date of Crossing 04/15/12 03/18/13
Nautical Miles of Crossing 91 47
Days to Cross 2 2
Days waiting on Crossing Schedule 4 7

Crossing Charges
Marina Cost while Waiting $84 $315
Immigration Admission Fee $15 $20
Cruising Permit Fee $30 $193
C.I.Q. Processing Fee $80 $20
Final Departure Port Clearance Fee n/a $35
Canal Agency Fee $85 $350
Canal Insurance $7 n/a
Canal Transit Fee (incl. Pilot) $175 $800
Vessel Inspection fee n/a $54
Canal Security n/a $130
Deck hands to handle lines n/a $400
Line handler recovery launch n/a $20
Totals $476 $2,337

--
Cheers,

Bruce in Bangkok

On 2013-12-24, Bruce in Bangkok wrote:

I thought some might be interested in some data that a good friend
just sent me.

[snip]

Crossing Information Suez Panama

[snip]

Totals $476 $2,337

What kind of vessel, and what size, was your friend sailing?

I'm sure I heard somewhere that someone is building, or planning a new
canal from Atlantic to Pacific. Anyone got news of that, or did I
imagine it? If such a thing was built then those who run the PC would
no longer be able to charge monopoly prices... But Suez is also a
monopoly, I hear that it can be expensive in baksheesh and you have to
grease every palm.

Justin.

On Tue, 24 Dec 2013 10:50:50 +0000, Justin C
wrote:

On 2013-12-24, Bruce in Bangkok wrote:

I thought some might be interested in some data that a good friend
just sent me.

[snip]

Crossing Information Suez Panama

[snip]

Totals $476 $2,337

What kind of vessel, and what size, was your friend sailing?

I'm sure I heard somewhere that someone is building, or planning a new
canal from Atlantic to Pacific. Anyone got news of that, or did I
imagine it? If such a thing was built then those who run the PC would
no longer be able to charge monopoly prices... But Suez is also a
monopoly, I hear that it can be expensive in baksheesh and you have to
grease every palm.

Justin.

He's got a Prout, 38 ft.

Yes he mentioned a possible second canal in Nicaragua
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...uan-canal.html

As for "extra charges" he had this to say:

The Egyptians were very annoying at times asking for their "baksheesh"
which amounted to very little in monetary terms. It is part of their
culture and hard to take by someone who isn't familiar and it really
aggravated me. But I saw a European captain, obviously used to the
situation handing out little gift packages to everyone he had to deal
with. All they consisted of was small brightly colored bag tied with a
neat ribbon that contained USD 10.00 plus a little photo of his boat,
a small key chain and some chocolates. Not a bad idea. A win-win
situation without stress.

The Panamanians were very straight forward in their demands, In fact,
I once asked if there was any options that I could take to get around
some of these high costs and was told that the only other option I had
was to leave and go back and "around the horn". Officials always had
grins as if they were glad to see that I didn't like being screwed. A
lose-lose situation with a lot of stress.

My mate, who has lived and worked in Asia for 30 or 40 years is quite
vehement about "tea money" as it is called in this neighborhood and
quite oblivious to the fact that many, perhaps most, of the jobs he
did in various oil fields in Asia were possible because someone paid a
whacking big bribe to acquire the lease to the field in the first
place.

But then, Americans and Canadians, in general, seem quite adverse to
giving someone a little present as though graft and corruption doesn't
exist in N. America.
--
Cheers,

Bruce in Bangkok