Panama Canal to get a third lane?

Living near Boston, we thought we'd never hear of a construction mess bigger than the Big Dig. That changed when Panamanian president Martin Torrijos announced an audacious $5.25 billion plan to add a third lane to the Panama Canal to accommodate even the largest ships envisaged today.

Most large new cruise ships are called "post-Panamax," meaning they're bigger than the 33-meter maximum width that can squeeze through the canal's two current lanes. The expansion project would add a third, 55-meter wide lane, ready for use by 2015.

While cruise lines will happily make use of the capability to move ships like Cunard's Queen Mary 2 and Royal Caribbean's Voyager-class vessels through the canal, the real target of the project is the freight shipping industry which has plenty of post-Panamax ships of its own. The canal would be able to handle almost twice as much freight tonnage as it can today, with a corresponding boost in revenues.

This Biggest Dig will get under way provided that Panamanian voters approve the project in an upcoming referendum.