[COLON, Panama] The Panama Canal, which is in the midst of a massive expansion, will likely get a new upgrade within 25 years to meet increasing capacity demands, its administrator said on Tuesday.

The canal, one of the greatest feats of 20th-century engineering, celebrated 100 years of operations last month, but is facing increasing competition from the larger Suez Canal in Egypt and the threat of a massive new Chinese-built canal being planned in Nicaragua.

The current US$5.3 billion expansion, which will add a third set of locks to the canal, is running a year behind schedule after getting bogged down in a dispute between the government and builders over US$1.6 billion in cost overruns.