Sea Classics, April 1st, 2005
Each night a line of ships stretches across the horizon off the palm-lined seafront of Panama City. Sometimes more than 20 vessels are lined up here, waiting to travel from the Pacific Ocean into the Atlantic via the 90-year-old Panama Canal.
The buildup of ships is evidence of how busy the canal, like much of the world's freight transport infrastructure, has become since Asia's manufacturing boom sent trade volumes and demand for shipping soaring.
According to Alberto Aleman Zubieta, the canal's administrator, the waterway is operating at 93% of its capacity, even after improvements made as...
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