Panama The Panama Canal | Panama Hotels

The Panama Canal, since opening, the canal has been enormously successful, and continues to be a key conduit for international naval trade. The canal can accommodate vessels from small private yachts up to large commercial vessels. The maximum size of vessel that can use the canal is known as Panamax; an increasing number of modern ships exceed this limit, and are known as post-Panamax vessels. A typical passage through the canal by a cargo ship takes around nine hours.

The Panama Canal (Spanish: Canal de Panamá) is a major ship canal that traverses the Isthmus of Panama in Central America, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Construction of the canal was one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken.

With demand rising, the canal is positioned to be a significant feature of world shipping for the foreseeable future. It is anticipated that by 2011, 37% of the world´s container ships will be too large for the present 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. This proposal to expand the Canal was approved on a national referendum by approximately 80% on October 22, 2006.

On September 3, 2007, work commenced on the expansion of the canal