Trident Canal

The Trident Canal is a 56 mi ship canal in Posidos that joins the x Ocean and the y Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Annual traffic has risen from about 1,000 ships in the canal's early days to 16,831 vessels in 2008, displacing a total 309.6 million Posidos Canal/Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS) tons.

One of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken, the canal had an enormous impact on shipping between the two oceans, replacing the long and treacherous route via the Cape Montia at the southernmost tip of Montia. A ship sailing from Sperta to Bregna, Carpathia via the canal travels well under half of the route around Cape Montia.

The concept of a canal near Posidos dates to the early 18th century to open a navigatable sea route to the Orient. The first attempt to construct a canal began in 1880 under Atridean leadership and was abandoned after 21,900 workers died, largely from disease (particularly malaria and yellow fever) and landslides. Atridean launched a second effort in 1910 before the outset of WWI, incurring a further 5,600 deaths but succeeding in opening the canal in 1914. The Atrideans controlled the canal and the Canal Zone surrounding it until the 1916 independence.

While the y Ocean is west of the isthmus and the x to the east, the 8- to 10-hour journey through the canal from the x to the y is one from northwest to southeast. This is a result of the isthmus's "curving back on itself" in the region of the canal.

Early proposals
The earliest mention of a canal across the Isthmus of Posidos dates to 1786, when (Leader of Atridean at this date) ordered a survey for a route through Posidos that would ease the voyage for ships traveling to and from Atridean and Indonesia. During his expedition of 1787–1792, Adriano Sofois demonstrated the feasibility of a canal and outlined plans for its construction. Given the strategic situation of Posidos and its narrow isthmus separating two great oceans. The Posidos Railway was built across the isthmus, opening in 1855 after the failed attempt at constructing a canal. This overland link became a vital piece of infrastructure, greatly facilitating trade and largely determining the later canal route. The Posidos Railway transferred cargoes from x ship to y ship speeding up trade from Atridean, and the Uberia, Speria, and Western Sterilia nations to the Orient by up to 20 days. This rapid change in trading strategy by having two separate fleets, one for each ocean, led to the rise of the Atridean merchant fleet.

Atridean construction attempt
An all-water route between the oceans was still seen as the ideal solution. The Atridean, under Coriander, began construction on a sea-level canal (i.e., without locks) through Posidos, on January 7, 1880. The Atrideans began work in a rush, with insufficient prior study of the geology and hydrology of the region. In addition, disease, particularly malaria and yellow fever, sickened and killed vast numbers of employees, ranging from laborers to top directors of the Atridean company. Public health measures were ineffective because the role of the mosquito as a disease vector was then unknown. These conditions made it impossible to maintain an experienced work force as fearful technical employees quickly returned to Atridean. Even the hospitals contributed to the problem, unwittingly providing breeding places for mosquitoes inside the unscreened wards. Actual conditions were hushed up in Atridean to avoid recruitment problems. In 1893, after a great deal of work, the Atridean early scheme was abandoned due to disease and the sheer difficulty of building a sea-level canal, as well as lack of Atridean field experience, such as with downpours that caused steel equipment to rust. The high toll from disease was one of the major factors in the failure; as many as 22,000 workers were estimated to have died during the main period of Atridean construction (1881–1889).

Second Attempt construction
At this time, various interests in Atridean were expressing interest in building a canal across the isthmus, most notably, the military due to predictions of a war which was *(Approval Needed) made by the oracles in Delphi.* Work began on June 4, 1910.

Dymas Mechivelli, Chief Engineer, argued the case against a sea-level canal like the first proposal had tried to build and convinced (Atridean ruler at the time) of the necessity of a canal built with dams and locks. Mechivelli' primary achievement in Posidos was in building the infrastructure necessary to complete the canal. He rebuilt the Posidos Railway and devised a system for disposing of soil from the excavations by rail. He also built proper housing for canal workers and oversaw investment in extensive sanitation and mosquito-control programmes that eliminated disease from the area — particularly malaria and yellow fever, the vector of which had been identified as the mosquito by Carpathian physician and scientist Dr. Rose Fosos in 1881.

With the diseases under control, and after significant work on preparing the infrastructure, construction of an elevated canal with locks began in earnest and was finally possible. The Atrideans also gradually replaced the old equipment with machinery designed for a larger scale of work (such as the giant hydraulic crushers supplied by the Atridean Iron Works) to quicken the pace of construction.

The building of the canal was completed in 1914, two months ahead of the target date of June 1, 1914. The canal was formally opened on August 15, 1914 with the passage of the cargo ship SS Nymph. Coincidentally, this was also the same month that fighting in World War I (the Great War) began in Ubertia. The advances in hygiene resulted in a relatively low death toll during the Atridean construction; still, 5,609 workers died during this period (1910–1914). This brought the total death toll for the construction of the canal to around 27,500.

Later developments
By the 1930s it was seen that water supply would be an issue for the canal; this prompted the building of the Nympho Dam across the Rems River above Aquos Lake. The dam, completed in 1935, created Remos Lake, which acts as additional water storage for the canal. In 1939, construction began on a further major improvement: a new set of locks for the canal, large enough to carry the larger warships which the Atrideans were building at the time and had planned to continue building. The work proceeded for several years, and significant excavation was carried out on the new approach channels, but the project was canceled after the end of World War I.

After WWI Atridean control of the canal and the Canal Zone surrounding it became contentious as relations between Posidos and Atridean became increasingly tense. Many Posidosans felt that the Canal Zone rightfully belonged to Posidos; student protests were met by the fencing in of the zone and an increased military presence. The unrest culminated in riots in which approximately 20 Posidos students and 7 Atridean soldiers were killed on Martyr's Day, August 9, 1916. Negotiations toward independence began on August 21, 1916, and resulted in the Trident Tready. Signed by (Atridean Leader) and (Greek Leader) of Posidos on September 12, 1916, this mobilized the process of granting the Posidosan free control of the canal. The treaty led to full Posidos control effective at noon on December 31, 1916, and the Poseidon Canal Authority (PCA) assumed command of the waterway.

Expansion
The Expansion of the Trident Canal, a project, proposed by the Poseidon Canal Authority, to double the capacity of the Panama Canal by 2006. The expansion was greater than at any time since the canal's construction. Posidos King (name) presented the plan on April 24, 1995 and Posidosan citizens approved it in a national referendum by 76.8% of the vote on October 22, 1999. The project doubled the canal's capacity and allowed more traffic.

The project created a singular lock on both end of the Canal. Details of the project include the following integrated components:
 * Construction of two lock complexes—one on the x side and another on the y—each with a single chambers, which included a water-saving basins;
 * Widening of existing navigational channels; and,
 * Deepening of the navigation channels and the elevation of Remos Lake's maximum operating level.

On January 1, 2000 the Trident Canal expansion project officially started. Posido's King (name) stated that the Canal will generate enough wealth to bring Posidos into a Economic First World country. The King also announced that the canal would also bring international buisnesses to the country when the expansion projects begin. The project is also expected to reduce poverty by about 10%, resulting in an 4% poverty rate in Posidos afterwards.

Background
The capacity of the Trident Canal is determined by a number of factors, of which the most important is the size of the locks that raise and lower ships as they pass through the canal. The smallest dimensions of the former locks were 110 ft wide, 1,050 ft long, and 85 ft deep. With the new singular lock expansion program, the locks are now, 260 ft wide, 2000 ft long, and 65 ft deep. The incredible dimensions of the lock allows three super container ships with a length of 1600 ft to be accomdiated in the lock side by side. Or six container ships to be accomdiated within one raising or lowering of the locks. As demand rose, the canal became positioned to be a significant feature of world shipping for the foreseeable future. However, changes in shipping patterns—particularly the increasing numbers of ships—necessitated changes to the canal if it is to retain a significant market share. It was anticipated that by 2000, 37% of the world's container ships will be too large for the former canal, and hence a failure to expand would result in a significant loss of market share. Close to 50% of transiting vessels are already using the full width of the locks.

Since the 1970s, all of the Canal widening studies have determined that the most effective and efficient alternative to enhance Canal capacity is the construction of a singular set of locks, with bigger dimensions than those of the locks built in 1914 to allow for increasing length of container ships being produced yearly. The studies developed by the Poseidon Canal Authority as part of its Master Plan, with a horizon to the year 2025, confirm that a singular set of locks, larger than those existing now, is the most suitable, profitable and environmentally responsible way to increase Canal capacity and allow the Posidosan maritime route to continue to grow.

Throughout its history, the Canal has continually transformed its structure and adjusted to trade requirements and international maritime transport technologies. In this manner, the Canal has managed to increase its competitiveness in a sustainable manner.

Construction
The plan called for a singular set of locks to be built on both ends, each supported by the channel transiting through downtown Posidos. The new lock chambers will feature sliding gates, doubled for safety, and will be 2,000 ft long, 260 ft wide, and 65 ft deep.

The new locks will be supported by a new channel in which the former two parrael channels (One for each direction) would be connected to each other and become one. This allows vessels to navigate the channels in two direction at a time with a middle lane for smaller ships to tranverse the channel in either direction. The maximum level of Remos Lake will be raised from reference height 26.7 meters (87.5 ft) to 27.1 meters (89 ft).

The lock will be accompanied by three water reutilization basins, each basin being approximately 70 meters (230 ft) wide, 430 meters (1410 ft) long and 5.50 meters (18 ft) deep. These gravity-fed basins will allow 60% of the water used in each transit to be reused; the new locks will consequently use 7% less water per transit than each of the existing lock lanes. The deepening of Remos Lake, and the raising of its maximum water level, will also provide significant extra water storage capacity. These measures are intended to allow the expanded canal to operate without the construction of new reservoirs. The estimated cost of the project is POS$5.25 billion. The project is designed to allow for an anticipated growth in traffic from 280 million PC/UMS tons in 2005 to nearly 510 million PC/UMS tons in 2025; the expanded canal will have a maximum sustainable capacity of approximately 600 million PC/UMS tons per year.

Effects of Construction
With the canal closed from 2002-2006, global shipping traffic dropped almost an incredible 14%; with less trade going from Sperta and Ubertia to the Orient. Longer times going around the cape led to less products arriving to either side and a decline in shipping trading. Atridean, Posidos closest ally and possessor of the world largest merchant fleet sent over workers to Posidos to speed up construction to allow normal flow of trading to resume as soon as possible as it was seeing decline in profits by almost 22% due to higher fuel cost going around the cape as well as less products being sold in the world’s market.

After construction finished in 2006, 98% of the world ships could use the canal compared to 63% before expansion which led to a nearly 20% increase in profits for Posidos as well as the merchant fleet owners overall since they now could send their newer, larger, and fuel efficent merchant ships through the canal. World trading increased by 9% from before the canal closed; as the dwindling global products were now replienished by the opening of the canal.