EXPANSION IMPACT

摘要

In 2006, the Panama Canal Authority decided to build new canal locks and widen and deepen the canal in order to enable significantly larger vessels to pass through the canal, which con- Inects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. For a small country such as Panama, this was a major investment intended to achieve economies of scale by enabling larger vessels for existing trades to pass through the canal, resulting in reduced transport costs. It also would enable vessels too large for the existing canal to re-route and thus reduce their voyage length and cost, and it would make the sea route from Asia through the canal directly to the East Coast of the U.S. more competitive in terms of the West Coast and the land bridge route across the country to the East Coast.