It was billed as the, "chance of a lifetime," by Panama's President, Martin Torrijos, and 77 percent of Panamanian voters backed this view when they approved plans to expand the Panama Canal in a national referendum last month. The $5.25 billion expansion will make one of the engineering wonders of the world 60 percent wider and 40 per cent longer. The eight-year project involves enlarging existing locks, deepening navigation channels and adding a third set of locks to ease bottlenecks and allow larger container vessels, known as post-Panamax ships, to traverse the famous passage linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The autonomous Panama Canal Authority (ACP), which administers the waterway, predicts that by 2011 approximately 37 percent the world's containership fleet will consist of vessels that cannot fit through the canal. The Panamanian government and ACP believe expanding the storied 50-mile canal is essential if the waterway is to remain competitive and cater to increasing usage demand.
In Panama, Much Depends On Canal Project
