On August 15, the Panama Canal celebrated 95 years of service as an engine of global trade and national growth. Since the steamship Ancón’s inaugural Canal passage August 15, 1914, the waterway has offered safe, reliable and efficient service to more than 983,000 transits. The Canal will reach the significant mark of one million transits next year.
On this anniversary, the Canal finds itself engaged in the largest project since its inauguration, the Expansion Program, which broke ground September 2007. The expansion of the Canal will permit the transit of larger ships carrying more cargo, which will affect economies of scale and increase the usage of the Panamanian waterway. Additionally, just like the construction of the Canal, expansion will contribute to technological advancement in the diverse fields of engineering and construction, among others.