Last December I visited to
Denver. One of the reasons I was there was to meet with the global engineering
consultancy firm MWH. Denver is where the MWH Mother-Ship is based. There are so
many water specialists in this part of the world that I wonder sometimes if
there is a beacon that summons them.
The MWH CEO, Alan Krause,
invited me into his office which was adorned with an impressive and dazzling
array of artefacts from MWH’s long history of working on water-related projects.
There was a large photo, about 3 ft long by 1 ft wide, that caught my eye. It
was an aerial photograph of the new extension to the Panama Canal. The picture
covered an area of many miles and it was immediately clear that this was a
project on a genuinely grand scale. Alan seeing that my attention was caught
immediately leapt to tell the story.
As he spoke he sparkled with
enthusiasm. This was clearly a project he was very close to, and of which he was
very proud. It was a cross between paternal pride at the impressive work of his
team mixed with the sort of exuberance a 7 year old boy might display if they
have just built the biggest Lego tower their imagination can perceive and now
wants to tell all his friends.
The Panama Canal Extension is a
thoroughly staggering project. It will double the capacity of the existing
Canal, allowing many more, and much larger, cargo ships to pass through this
important thoroughfare. Alan, displaying a level of detail that I found unusual
for a CEO of such a large business, described in detail some of the construction
challenges. Just to put this into context, we are talking about building locks
that are 20m deep, 60m wide and an incredible 427m long. This is not the Avon
and Somerset canal!
This is a multi-billion $
scheme, on an unprecedented scale that will change the lives of literally
hundreds millions of people, over many decades.
This scheme will be one of the
engineering wonders of the world. Not that size is everything, but it will even
be seen from space. On Saturday night (April 11th) the History
Channel is airing a special edition of Modern Marvels on this project.
I love engineers, especially
water ones. They are modern day heroes.
No comments:
Post a Comment