A “highway” that joins two Oceans
NEW PANAMA CANAL
Works to expand the Canal that have allowed the modern, huge, Neo-Panamax ships to sail through the isthmus, from one ocean to the other, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, represent the largest work created by Man in the last decades. And also, a significant development for world trade as a whole.
A few numbers on the Panama Canal
8 as it is considered the 8th Wonder of the modern World
7.1 million m³ of dredging
74 million m³ of excavations
18 million m³ of backfills
5 million m³ of concrete used
1.6 million tons of cement
290.000 tons of concrete steel
71.000 tons of steel used for the sluice gates and valves:
40.000 m² of buildings
96 buildings built
16 sluice gates each weighing 4,000 tons, engineered and manufactured in Italy for a total weight of 4,000 tons, an average width of 10 m, 58 m in length, and a height of 23-33 m (each sluice gate carrie dout its work in five minutes, for an operation that will be carried out for at least a century still)
10,000 people worked on the project
7 years to complete the project
60% the percentage of reduced water dispersion into the ocean
14,000 the large ships that pass through the Canal every year, which avoid circumnavigating the globe, also with a huge reduction of CO2 emissions
366 metres in dimension for the ships that can transit the Canal
17,000 containers that ships can carry on the Canal (against the previous 5,000 load)
1881 the year the project began, designed by French engineers but never completed: both Ferdinand de Lesseps, who had already built the Suez Canal, and Gustave Eiffel, the project designer of the French tower with the same name, did not succeed
1914 the year the first Canal built by American engineers became operational
2016 the new Canal built by Webuild was inaugurated on June 26th with the passage of the Cosco Shipping Panama, a 300-meter-long vessel carrying 9,472 containers
$19.103 is the Panamanian gross domestic product per capita (growing steadily after the canal's enlargement) in 2019. In 2015, it was $13,630. The estimate for 2022 is $16,037
1,200,000 the ships that crossed the Canal in 104 years
285,800,000 the gross tonnage transported through the Canal in 2021, with a 12% growth compared to the previous year.
208,800,000 the tons of goods that passed through the Canal and that came from the US in 2021
64,400,000 the tons of goods passing through the Panama Canal from China, in 2021
20 the nodes of the ships travelling on the Canal (approximately 37 km/h)
30 the percentage of emissions of ships saved by 2030, due to the lower fuel consumption
13,000,000 the tons of CO2 emissions that the Panama Canal contributed to reduce compared to other routes
THE WORK AND THE TECHNIQUE
MILLION M³ DREDGING
MILLION M³ EXCAVATION
MILLION M³ CONCRETE
MILLION M³ BACKFILLS
MILLION TONS CEMENT
TONS STEEL FOR SLUICE GATES AND VALVES
TONS REINFORCING STEEL
M² BUILDINGS (96 UNITS)
SLUICE GATES
ACP (Autoridad del Canal de Panamá)
GUPC (Grupo Unidos por el Canal international consortium) consisting of Webuild (at that time Salini Impregilo), Sacyr, Jan de Nul, CUSA.
Works to expand the Canal began in August 2009. Extraordinary complex works were carried out, for the project, requiring premium technical skills and a huge commitment, with up to 10,000 people from over 30 nations engaged.
CULTURAL INSIGHTS
New ships, new routes
Since Canal's expansion was inaugurated, the Canal has favoured the development of global maritime trade, multiplying the opportunities for connection and exchange between countries and different markets. Today, thanks to this monumental work, the Panama Canal serves 180 shipping routes and 170 countries worldwide, connecting 1,920 ports.
The Canal did not just exceed the most optimistic traffic improvements. It did in fact also reaffirm its environmental leadership role in maritime transport.
It promoted saving water and reducing CO2 emissions, due to the reduced distances and the greater load capacity that can now be offered to clients: in fact, some Neo-Panamax ships can carry 175,000 containers, against the 5,000 of the old Panamax ones: if the 15,000 containers were placed one on top of the other, like Lego blocks, they would reach a height of 38,865 metres, equaling 130 Eiffel Towers.
thousand ships passed in 8 years
ships every day
What a great GDP!
The opening of the expansion has driven further investments, prompting Panamanian authorities to plan the expansion of the two ports located at the mouth of the canal, on the ocean fronts (one of which was built with foreign investments), to replace the third bridge built in 1942, and to design a fourth bridge to facilitate overland crossings.
Thanks to these huge investments the per capita GDP in Panama went from $13,630 (in 2015, Pre-Expansion) to $15,774 (2019, Pre Covid), and is expected to exceed $16,037 in 2022.
Thus, the Canal has supported the country’s economic growth trend, making a decisive contribution of up to 7.7% of annual GDP. In 2021, Panama ranked among the world’s top 10 fastest-growing countries in terms of gross domestic product compared to previous years. With a GDP of $82.49 billion in 2023, the country confirmed a 4% growth rate, up 30% from 2020. Meanwhile, in 2024, Panama’s per capita GDP reached $19,103.
new Panama Canal impact in 2024 (among all state income)
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