Panama Canal to reclaim its key global trade role

A century after it transformed global markets, the Panama Canal is about to redraw world trade again.

Nine years of construction work, at a cost of $5bn (€4.5bn), have equipped the canal with a third set of locks and deeper navigation channels, crucial improvements that will double the isthmus’s capacity for carrying cargo between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

When the new locks slide open to receive traffic for the first time, in late June, the reverberations will be felt from Asian gas terminals to Great Plains farms, and at ports from Miami to Long Beach to Santiago.