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| The Panama Canal widening referendum |
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| Written by Brian Micklethwait | |||
| Friday, 20 October 2006 | |||
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This coming Sunday, October 22nd, the people of Panama will be answering a very big and expensive question: should the Panama Canal be widened? With globalisation has come much increased demand for the services of this always crucial waterway. Manufactured goods now flood across the Pacific, through the Panama Canal to destinations all along the eastern coasts of north and south America, and raw materials flow back to Asia. Such is now the demand for the services of the Panama Canal, that there has even been talk of building an entirely new canal to link the Pacific to the Atlantic, through Nicaragua. It is already estimated that, if Panama goes ahead with this plan, it will cost over $5 billion dollars, so heaven knows what the final bill may end up being. There are also the inevitable environmental worries and objections. Nevertheless, all the signs are that Panama will vote by a quite big margin in favour of the scheme. If that happens, it will be a huge boost to the global trading system. Already between 4 and 5 percent of internationally traded goods go through the Panama Canal, despite the world's biggest ships being too big for it. The first super-ship that was too big for the canal was the Queen Mary. But if Panama votes yes on Sunday, only the world's currently largest container ship, the Emma Maersk, will still be too wide for the widened canal, by just one metre.
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written by Brian Micklethwait on October 23, 2006 The result was 78/22 percent YES. |
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