Panama Canal Improvements To Benefit Panama’s Already Booming Real Estate Market
April 6, 2024 by patrickwoolford
The Panama Canal Authority has requested over $2 billion this year to finance a major expansion of the panama canal, a project that once complete will help to further boost Panama’s already growing economy and real estate market. The project, which is slated to be completed in 2024 for the centennial celebration of the opening of the canal, is estimated to cost a total $5.25 billion. According to a February 2024 Popular Mechanics article, the expansion will use state of the art techniques to create a third set of locks, significantly increasing the total capacity of the shipping lanes.
With the Panama Canal currently running at nearly 90% capacity, the Panama Canal Authority realized they must expand the aging thoroughfare to better compete in the modern shipping industry, and accommodate the much larger commercial vessels that currently transport goods across oceans. The largest vessels that can currently make the voyage through the canal are built to the Panamax standard, which take advantage of the maximum allowable dimensions to fit through the canal, often leaving no more than two feet of clearance between the ship and the walls of the canal. With the addition of the new locks, the maximum load capacity of the ships will increase from 5,000 to 12,000 containers per ship. The new third set of locks will not replace the existing ones, but instead will augment them by allowing for the passage of much wider vessels, and allowing vessels that currently meet the Panamax standard to continue using the preexisting locks system.
This news is good both for Panama’s economy, as well as for those interested in investing in Panama real estate. Real estate has been booming in Panama, yet unemployment hovers around 7%, a situation that fuels fear that the the real estate bubble may burst once the economy begins to cool off. The large investment in revitalizing the Panama Canal at nearly 15% of Panama’s GDP will provide much needed jobs for Panama’s population and continue to bring growth to Panama’s economy and real estate sector.
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