Panama Canal opens after renovation

On June 26, after being renovated, the Panama Canal opened. The opening ceremony took place in the presence of many foreign guests.

Panama Canal. Photo: Flickr.

Dug more than 100 years ago, the Panama Canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans has long been in need of modernization.

The canal's capacity is limited, with ships sometimes having to wait days for their turn. In addition, the century-old canal is no longer able to accommodate the size and tonnage of modern ships.

Work on upgrading the canal began in 2007. Over the past nine years, the width of the canal mouth has been increased from 34 to 55 metres, and the depth from 12 metres to 18 metres.

As a result of the $5.4 billion renovation, the Panama Canal's transport capacity has increased from 300 million tons to 600 million tons per year, and most importantly, the canal has become suitable for liquefied natural gas carriers. Thus, next year the canal's transport capacity will increase by 20%.

The move would make the Panama Canal more competitive with the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean and the Red Seas, and which was recently expanded, or more precisely, replaced, last summer. Amazingly, the project was completed in just one year.

The total cost of $8.5 billion was raised by all Egyptians. But now the income from Suez Canal cargo traffic has tripled.

According to Sputnik