The Panama Canal's importance to the United States
The Panama Canal is a lock-type waterway owned by Panama that links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It carries 2.5% of world maritime trade a year and 40% of US container traffic.
The Panama Canal’s importance to the United States
The Panama Canal is a lock-type shipping canal owned by Panama that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Along with the Suez Canal, it is one of the world’s most important artificial shipping routes.
The canal is 81.6 km long, of which 65.2 km runs over land. Ships usually cover the route in 8–10 hours; including waiting time, the passage can take up to 25 hours when the canal is congested or because of weather conditions. The canal’s maximum capacity is 48 ships a day. It is congested, so slots in the queue are sold at auction. The total toll for a ship to pass through can reach $400,000.
A 76.6 km railway and a highway run parallel to the canal.
A little on the canal’s history: recognising Panama’s strategic role and that of the territory of the future canal, the United States backed Panama’s secession from Colombia in 1903 and signed an agreement with it under which the US gained the right to use and control the territory of the future Panama Canal “in perpetuity”. Panama received $10 million under the treaty. The canal was built to a US design and opened in August 1914. A rental fee was set for US use of the canal.
The canal was of military-strategic importance to the United States, which used the route during the Second World War. The US also actively shipped military supplies through the waterway during its wars in Korea (1950–1953) and Vietnam (1955–1975).
Amid growing anti-American sentiment in Panama, however, the two sides signed two agreements in 1977. One provided that control of the canal would pass entirely to the Panamanian authorities by 1999. Under the second, on the permanent neutrality and operation of the Panama Canal, the United States lost the right to station military facilities in the canal zone but kept the right to transit warships through the waterway.
Today the Panama Canal is of enormous geopolitical importance, having had — and continuing to have — a serious effect on economic development in the Western Hemisphere and worldwide. Thanks to the canal, ships no longer have to round South America, and the sea route from New York (the US east coast) to San Francisco (the US west coast) has shrunk from 22,500 km to 9,500 km. The average voyage from Asia to the Atlantic takes about 26 days instead of 39.
The largest share of goods through the Panama Canal belongs to the United States (71.5% of cargo), followed by China and Japan. The route mainly carries oil and petroleum products as well as containerised goods bound for ports on the US east coast and in Asia. On average, 2.5% of world maritime trade passes through the canal each year, and the canal handles 40% of US container traffic.