Panama, a small nation of just four million people, has a booming financial services sector that, including revenue from its famous canal, accounts for nearly 80 percent of gross domestic product PHOTO: AFP
"We are showing the world the real face of Panama and that will no doubt have a positive effect on the image of the country during these adversities we are going through," Jorge Quijano, head of the Panama Canal Authority, said in an interview.
On Sunday, the Central American nation is to officially open its expansion work on the century-old Panama Canal after years of costly work with a ceremony featuring regional leaders and foreign dignitaries.
The project ran hundreds of millions of dollars over budget and two years past deadline, taking nine years to complete at a cost of more than $5.5 billion. It required the construction of new locks, enlarged access and a deepening of the canal bed.
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Enough metal was used over the nine years to build 20 Eiffel Towers.
The pharaonic task of broadening the 80-kilometer (50-mile) canal, which is sometimes called the eighth modern wonder of the world, is a source of pride for Panama.
But April's "Panama Papers" revelations , which exposed how some of the world's wealthy and influential stashed assets in offshore companies thanks to the work of a Panama-based law firm, have cast a long shadow over the country's image.
"We have expanded the wonder. It's a major step for a small country and that fills us with pride to have achieved that," Quijano said.
With the expansion, the Panama Canal, through which five percent of world maritime commercial traffic already passes, will be able to take ships carrying three times as much cargo as before, up to 14,000 containers.
"Some 97 to 98 percent of the container cargo fleet currently out there can pass through the new locks of the canal. And that is going to let us do some good business," the Panama Canal Authority administrator said.
He also predicted greater traffic by ships hauling liquefied natural gas.
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The aim over the next decade is to double the more than 300 tonnes of cargo that already goes through each year. And to triple the annual $1 billion Panama gets in shipping transit fees.
"The first year, we'll probably arrive at around $1.4 or $1.5 billion dollars, and after that it will gradually rise," Quijano predicted.
However, he cautioned that that would "depend of the level of growth in the countries using the Panama Canal" , the main customers of which are the United States and China.
The government also hopes to wrest back "a good part" of the cargo traffic currently going through Egypt's Suez Canal. The Panama route saves ships going between Asia and the US East Coast two weeks of sailing.
The expansion work was carried out by a consortium including the Spanish group Sacyr, Italy's Salini Impregilio, Belgium's Jan de Nul and Panama's Constructora Urbana.
In 2014 , the year the work was meant to have been finished to coincide with the centenary anniversary of the original, US-built canal's opening, the consortium halted labor to demand extra cash to cover overruns. It estimated it needed an extra $3.5 billion.
Although the legal confrontation with Panama was mostly resolved, demands for some costs, whose amount is unknown, remain outstanding.
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"I never had the smallest doubt that the work would be complete. The problem was when," Quijano said.
"History has proven us right" and the satisfaction of seeing the project complete "gives a good flavor that washes away all the problems," he added.
On Sunday, a Chinese freighter will be the first big Neopanamax-class ship to officially move through the expanded canal and new locks.
Panamanian officials say they expect some 10 leaders to be among the VIPs watching, including the king of Spain and some Latin American presidents.
The United States said on Monday that it would be represented by its ambassador and the wife of Vice President Jose Biden, Jill Biden.
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