Panama Canal Handover

The handover put one of the world's key shipping chokepoints under Panamanian control, and Panama has since run the canal as a commercial enterprise funded by tolls. The Panama Canal Authority financed a larger set of locks that opened in 2016 for bigger container ships, and it sets the tolls, booking rules and draft limits that shape carriers' Asia to U.S. East Coast services. For importers, the canal is the main all-water route from Asia to the East and Gulf Coasts, and when drought forced transit restrictions in 2023, carriers added surcharges and some cargo shifted to West Coast ports and rail. Canal conditions therefore feed directly into lead times and landed cost.

• Lead TimeTime from purchase order to sellable stock
• Landed CostTotal cost to get a product ready to sell
• Intermodal FreightFreight moved by rail and truck in one box

• Opening of the Panama Canal1914 · A lock canal links the Atlantic and the Pacific
• Double-Stack Container Trains1984 · Trains carry containers stacked two high
• Suez Canal Closure of 1967 to 19751967–1975 · War shuts the canal for eight years

1. Panama Canal Authority (Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.org
2. Panama Canal turned over to Panama (HISTORY.com) history.com