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32 Chicago Tribune Section 1 Sunday, June 26, 2016 Panama Canal's big moment Expansion debuts Sunday; trade routes could be reshaped i Vi-. 1 I 'r II I oio I NO SMOKING I I 1 mO 91SID44 jl Ij By Patrick J. McDonnell and Natalie Kitroeff Tribune Newspapers PANAMA CITY, Panama The colossal freighter, guided by a pair of tug boats that looked like gnats in comparison, eased toward the entrance of the Panama Canal, the storied passageway traversed more than a million times since its debut more than a century ago. This time, however, expectation hovered in the steamy air. Hundreds of workers in hard hats gathered to watch as the MN Baroque glided toward a new set of locks.

"This is a major advance not just for Panama, but for the world," said Xionara Martinez, 43, a cement worker and mother of two who was among the spectators. Gigantic carriers such as the MN Baroque more than 50 yards wide and three football fields in length have never fit through the Model T-era passage, constructed well before the emergence of super-sized cargo ships. But that is about to change. The test of the new locks this month offered a glimpse into the canal's future, which begins Sunday with the inauguration of a deeper, wider Panama Canal that can handle twice as much cargo. The project, nine years in the making, is aimed at boosting the competitiveness of the 50-mile shortcut between the Atlantic and the Pacific and maintaining its ability to generate billions of dollars a year for the Central American nation.

"We knew for a long time we had to think about ex- ALEJANDRO BOLIVAREPA The MN Baroque draws a crowd during a test this month of the locks at Agua Clara in the Panama Canal, which was extended at a cost of $5.4 billion. more than 100 feet in the air, were then installed into grooves with the help of remote-controlled vehicles resembling giant skateboards. The opening follows years of studies, cost overruns and work stoppages. Eight workers died in construction accidents. The improvements essentially add a "third lane" to the waterway and are expected to dramatically reduce traffic jams.

With the improvements, the canal can now accept the massive, so-called neo-Panamax ships. The change could have a dramatic effect on world shipping and in particular on how goods arrive in the world's most prosperous market. Ports on the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico including New York, Miami and Houston have been frantically gearing up for a bonanza. They have deepened their harbors, expanded rail lines and installed massive cranes. On Sunday, heads of state, shipping executives, port operators and other dignitaries were expected to be on hand for the ceremony, when a Chinese cargo ship makes the first complete crossing of the renovated canal.

Natalie Kitroeff reported from Los Angeles. patrick.mcdonnelltribpub.com panding, otherwise we would lose relevancy in the world," said Ilya R. Espino de Marotta, who oversees the project for the Panama Canal Authority, an autonomous agency of the government of Panama The upgrade has implications far beyond Panama It could reshape world trade routes, opening new markets for commodities from South America, pushing back against competition from the Suez Canal and shifting how goods enter the United States. At stake is how imports will reach a vast swath of the American heartland, running from Chicago and south along the Mississippi River, stretching as far west as Dallas. Because bigger ships will now fit through the canal, some analysts predict that more ships will dock on the East and Gulf coasts, diverting business from the nation's two busiest ports Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif.

"People have been scratching their heads and sharpening their pencils ever since the Panamanians announced they would construct a new canal," said Jock O'Connell, an international trade adviser at Beacon Economics, a Los Angeles research firm. "After all this time we still don't have a definitive sense of what will happen." One of the world's greatest public works projects, the original canal, built by the United States and completed in 1914, was a feat of engineering and perseverance that cost the lives of thousands of workers, many from malaria or yellow fever during an earlier, failed effort by the French. The overhaul is its own epic story. Workers blasted a new four-mile access channel on the Pacific side and conducted massive dredge operations to expand the existing routes. The 16 new sluice gates the doors of the new locks that raise and lower ships in and out of the canal were made in Italy and arrived stacked on barges.

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