The year 2021 begins with important challenges and expectations: it is a year of hope. This first publication of our magazine El Faro, now in its 150th edition, puts into perspective our commitment to continue announcing to the country and the whole world what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how we are doing it.

Water and the water projects that the Canal will undertake to ensure the availability of this resource for human consumption and operations, is a priority in our information offer. In this matter, the requirements of quantity, quality and control are unavoidable in the path towards the solution for the next 50 years.

In this sense, El Faro promotes a philosophy framed in environmental protection and the care of its watershed, whose main lakes, Gatun and Alhajuela, provide water to more than two million Panamanians, and allow the transit of some 13,000 ships each year. And beyond that, it recognizes the value of its workforce in the effective administration of this finite resource and in the maintenance of the century-old infrastructure that facilitates the transit of ships for the benefit of the country.

This edition also highlights the contribution that the Panama Canal provides to the world in terms of reducing polluting gases, being the shortest route to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, representing 13 million tons of CO2 that in 2020 did not pollute our planet.

On the other hand, the Covid-19 pandemic has opened a space that leads us to join efforts in the prevention of contagion and eradication of this disease. We must not let our guard down, and that is the commitment of the Panama Canal and its workforce to remain open to world trade.

Great challenges lie ahead, and it is these challenges that motivate Canal workers to continue their efforts for the benefit of their country and the world, because together we are Panama.

Marianela Dengo de de Obaldía
Vice President for Communication and Corporate Image