reaching some 1,700 ports in the world (Maritime
Services - PanCanal.com, 2013). Total crossings in
the Panama Canal reached 12,862 in 2012. Of this
total, 3,331 crossings were attributed to container
ships (Bloomberg, 2013). During the year, more
than 300 million tons (Panama Canal/Universal
Measurement System (PC/UMS)) of cargo were
handled at the canal.