ABSTRACT
The real economic importance of maritime international canals has, however, changed in recent years, due in the main to the introduction of larger capacity vessels with deeper draught, such as the mammoth oil tankers and container ships. Maritime canals must therefore keep pace with new tonnage developments, otherwise ships will follow alternative routes due to the sheer inability of the canal to accommodate their draught, beam or length. One must therefore judge individual maritime canals in terms of their economic importance, seen in the light of their physical ability to accept modern tonnage currently or potentially available such as in the Suez and Panama Canals.
