Row Threatens Panama Deadline

摘要

A dispute over construction costs threatens to halt work on the Panama Canal expansion, jeopardizing next year's target completion date (WGI Jan.8'14). The work is already running about a year behind schedule, and further delays could be unwelcome news to aspiring US LNG exporters, many of which plan to use the canal to send their output to fast-growing Asian markets. They would likely go down even more badly with buyers, which see the waterway as the cheapest, quickest way of getting their gas to Asia, and would have to bear the cost of shipping via alternative, longer routes.