The Panamax 2010 military exercises have begun in the Panama Canal with military vessels from Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and Colombia. The nine-day drills which started yesterday will finish on August 27. The drills were designed to perform training operations to avoid an allegedly terrorist or drug trafficking threat against the Panama Canal. This year the Panamax will be limited to river side exercises due to the economic crisis and high cost for deploying naval units in the sea. The first stage of Panamax was conducted in 2002 with the participation only of Chile, the United States and Panama, and since then more countries have joined it.