Panama Canal turns 100 tomorrow

[PANAMA CITY] The Panama Canal, one of the 20th century's greatest engineering triumphs, celebrates 100 years tomorrow, facing competition from rival projects and delays in the expansion aimed at ensuring its 21st century relevance.

The product of decades of failed efforts and a final 10 years of breakneck construction that confirmed the United States as a major world power, the canal opened on Aug 15, 1914 with the passage of the steamship Ancon.

One hundred years later, more than a million ships have crossed the 80-kilometre canal, which today handles 5 per cent of the world's maritime trade.