Panama Canal

'The canal no longer solely depends on the world's main economies,' said Panama Canal Administrator Jorge Quijano.

A record amount of cargo crossed the Panama Canal over the past 12 months, largely fueled by economic growth in Latin America, the waterway’s top administrator said.

Nearly 334 million tonnes of cargo crossed the canal during fiscal year 2011 – which ended September 30 – a jump from 322 million tonnes the previous year, said Panama Canal Administrator Jorge Quijano, AFP reports.

Washington was the canal’s main customer, with Quijano estimating that 144 million tonnes of goods crossed the canal in fiscal 2011 either destined to or coming from the United States.

Second was China (53 million tonnes), followed by Chile (28 million) and Japan (22 million).
Other important canal users were Peru (15.2 million), Colombia (14.7 million), Ecuador (14.5 million), Mexico (12.2 million), Panama (12 million) and Venezuela (9.3 million).

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