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Costa Rica is developing plans to put itself on the transportation/trade map in a big way, and one result of that planning could be a "dry canal"-- a railroad-- to […]

Costa Rica's attempts to reduce shipping costs by encouraging competition in the country's major ports of Limon and Moin are being opposed by stevedores and unions. Dockworkers are claiming that the government is handing over the control of the ports to foreign companies and warns that violent riots could erupt if the move pushes through. The nation's most influential newspaper, however, defended the government's decision by saying that the ports' high prices are harming Costa Rica's businesses and consumers.

A proposal by the Costa Rican government to construct a 210-mile intermodal rail network is an ill-fated plan, says an official of the Panama Canal Commission. According to Richard Wainio, the program to link the Pacific and the Atlantic will fail because it will have to compete with the intermodal network in the US. Meanwhile, $20 million is being spent to study whether it is feasible to replace the current canal with a sea-level structure to accomodate larger ships. Wainio also opposes the idea.