First big containerships en route to the Panama Canal

Re:First big containerships en route to the Panama Canal by WildUtah on Thursday June 16, 2016 @12:29AM (#11913983)

I'm confused. The article implies that 'westbound' ships are headed the opposite direction of ships headed for New York. But ships traverse the Panama Canal from east to west on the way from Asia to New York.

Is there a convention of calling ships that cross Panama from southeast to northwest 'eastbound' and ships that traverse from northwest to southeast 'westbound?' Because that seems like it would be even more confusing that things already are.

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Re:First big containerships en route to the Panama Canal by niftich on Thursday June 16, 2016 @01:21AM (#11914173)

They're referring to global (i.e. shipping) geography with regard to east-west, not local geography.

The convention is actually to call the Atlantic side 'north' and the Pacific side 'south'.

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Re:First big containerships en route to the Panama Canal by alienasa on Thursday June 16, 2016 @08:56AM (#11915747)

Because it is actually 'north' and 'south'. Somewhat unexpectedly, the Atlantic exit of the canal is actually west of the Pacific exit.

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