New locks the latest chapter in canal saga

Nearly 10 years ago, the United States turned over control of the waterway that joins the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in Central America and through which 14,701 vessels carrying 190 million tonnes of cargo travelled in 2008.

Those ships traversing the Panama Canal paid more than US$1.3 billion (Dh4.8bn) in tolls. They carried everything from Alaskan oil to Chinese toys to passengers enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime cruise.

The canal, one of history's great engineering feats, had been under US control since opening in 1914. A 1903 treaty gave the US the right to build and operate the canal. In return, Panama received $10 million and an annuity of $250,000. By 1955, the annuity had increased to $193m.

The French had been the first to attempt to build the canal in the 1880s, but sold their interest after nearly 22,000 workers died, many succumbing to yellow fever and malaria.

For Thomas Burke, who served on the US state department commission that planned the return of the canal to Panamanian control, the 2008 numbers show that turning it over was the "right thing to do".

"They have run it better than we ever did, running it as a business," said Mr Burke, who now lives in Dubai with his wife, a consultant to the UAE Ministry of Education. "It is paying for itself … making so much money on the tolls."

Today, nearly 20 years after the Panama Canal commission went to work on its $20m study, completed in 1995, two sets of locks are being added to the canal and navigational channels are being widened and deepened.

In 1990, when the US president, George H W Bush, appointed Mr Burke to the Panama Study Commission, he was working as the executive director of the Port Everglades Port Authority in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, having previously run ports in Duluth, Minnesota, and Cleveland, Ohio.

Twice a month Mr Burke, who "never took a dime" for his work on the commission, would meet with its members, representatives from the United States, Japan and Panama.

He became the maritime expert on a commission that some saw as a "lark at first", he said, and which faced vociferous opposition from many against relinquishing control of the canal.

"When I was appointed by President Bush in 1990, our US delegation had no one that had a maritime background and the state department was concerned that we could be overshadowed by the other two countries that had all maritime people in their delegation," Mr Burke said. "Our people were appointed by President Reagan and were mostly from California involved in politics in Washington and West Coast business. I brought a solid reputation for running large ports and for being involved in US maritime policy so no one was going to fool me, and they didn't try."

After much debate, Mr Burke said the commissioners agreed they "would leave Panama with a road map".

"The state department gave me support, and I knew the Panamanian ambassadors. We were working in the same direction, so it was easy," he said. "It was a just deal for Panama."

By 1990, ships were getting bigger and carrying more cargo and the canal was incapable of handling some of the larger ships.

Thus, Mr Burke's commission studied the feasibility of adding new locks and making the canal wider.

"If we did not do something, shipping would look elsewhere," he said.

Another study, this one commissioned by the Panama Canal Authority, the government body that now runs the canal, says the expansion will help the country's gross domestic product double by 2025, add as many as 50,000 jobs and increase business investment in the canal zone by 40 per cent.

The expansion project, expected to be completed in 2016, should also give additional credence to what Mr Burke said in a speech the day after Panama took control of the canal on Dec 31 1999: "Let us leave with the knowledge that the United States has truly created one of the wonders of the world and in doing so provided Panama with historic opportunity for peace and growth … Let us leave with our heads held high, secure in the knowledge that the canal will remain open to peaceful transit of vessels of all nations on terms of entire equality consistent with the principles of international law."

As larger ships travel the canal in the years ahead, they will also lend weight to what Bill Clinton said in thanking Mr Burke for his work on the commission: "Your dedication and expertise guided the study to a successful conclusion and produced a historic document that assured the commerce of the world continued safe and timely transit through the Panama Canal well into the 21st century."

Today Mr Burke looks back on his work on the commission with pride: "It is nice to know that something you gave so much time and effort to will be of benefit to the world for many years to come."