World leaders rolled their eyes when President Trump kicked off his second term by threatening to take back the Panama Canal. Yet within weeks a massive sale put the waterway’s biggest ports and dozens of others in American hands—reshaping the global shipping business.
BlackRock BLK 0.24%increase; green up pointing triangle, the world’s largest asset manager, last week said it was leading a consortium that would pay $22.8 billion to buy more than 40 ports around the world, including crucial berths on either end of the Panama Canal, from Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison 1 -1.20%decrease; red down pointing triangle, controlled by one of Asia’s richest men.
The Panama Canal is a constructed waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the Isthmus of Panama. It is owned and administered by Panama, and it is 40 miles long from shoreline to shoreline. Ships can cross going in either direction, and it takes about 10 hours to get from one side to the other.
Ships from all over the world transit through the Panama Canal daily. Between 13,000 and 14,000 ships use the Canal each year. Also generates around 5 Billion US Dollars annually. Panama Canal was not just engineering marvel, it is a story of great resilliance of one man.
