On 22 October 2006, the Panamanian people voted in a referendum in favour of the widening of the Panama Canal; this was seven years after the Torrijos-Carter Treaties of 1977 led to the retrocession of the Canal on 31 December 1999. This was an historic decision, without which the Canal would inevitably have finished as a mere regional commercial waterway. It ensures that the Canal will maintain its vital place in intercontinental and transpacific maritime commerce for at least the next 40 years.

The history of Panama is intimately bound up with that of the Canal – which is at the origin of the existence of Panama itself as a state. In 1903 the United States supported the secession of the country from New Columbia, of which it then formed a part, in order to build the 80-km waterway to link the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Ever since its inauguration in 1914 the Canal has been a strategic crossroads between North and South America, and between the two seas. It has proved to be a precious route for the US Navy, playing a major role in the Second World War, and also the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. It is today one of the world’s principal sea routes.

The Canal is the hub of Panama’s economy, and is managed by the Panamanian authorities as a commercial undertaking. Its saturation is forecast around the year 2014, as current capacity will then be insufficient to deal with the growth of world maritime traffic associated with the emergence of the Asian countries. The project to widen the Canal has been under consideration for several years, and is now a fact; it will allow the Canal to adapt to industrial trends, and to guarantee its place in a constantly expanding world maritime trade. However, there are developments to which the Canal cannot adapt indefinitely