<p>(Corrects first paragraph to read one of highest ever but not a record after <span class="yshortcuts" style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; cursor: hand; border-bottom: medium none">Panama Canal Authority</span> corrected information) </p><p>PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - A U.S.-owned <span class="yshortcuts" style="cursor: hand; border-bottom: #0066cc 1px dashed">cruise ship</span> has paid one of the highest ever amounts -- $283,400 -- to cross the <span class="yshortcuts" style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; cursor: hand; border-bottom: #0066cc 1px dashed">Panama Canal</span> as vessels fight for space in the increasingly congested waterway, authorities said on Tuesday.</p><p>The 964-foot (295-meter)-long Disney Magic, owned by a subsidiary of Walt Disney Co, paid the amount on May 16, the Panama Canal Authority said. The ship sails out of <span class="yshortcuts" style="cursor: hand; border-bottom: #0066cc 1px dashed">Port Canaveral, Florida</span>, and is registered in the <span class="yshortcuts" style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; cursor: hand; border-bottom: medium none">Bahamas</span>.</p><p>Three container ships also recently paid more than $313,000 to go through the canal.</p><p>Non-reserved slots for crossing the canal are sold at auction to the highest bidder, with yachts, cruise liners and container vessels all competing for limited spaces on the 50-mile (80-km) waterway between the Atlantic and Pacific.</p><p>Companies shipping goods between Asia and the U.S. East Coast are willing to pay higher prices to cross the canal to save time and avoid docking goods at ports in <span class="yshortcuts">Mexico</span> and Central America and transporting them over land.</p><p>The canal also allows <span class="yshortcuts">cruise ships</span> to journey from the Caribbean to the Pacific. The Disney Magic vessel offers cruises from Florida to Los Angeles, and crossing the <span class="yshortcuts">Panama Canal</span> is one of the highlights for tourists.</p><p>Last year, the U.S.-built canal started a $5.25 billion expansion plan, but work won't be completed until 2014.</p><p>Waiting times to enter the canal increased by a third in the first three months of this year, compared with the same period in 2007, due to a high traffic levels at the canal.</p><p>The number of passenger and cruise ships crossing the canal increased by 30 percent in the same period.</p><p>Panama is trying to establish itself as a <span class="yshortcuts">cruise ship</span> destination. But an increase in cruise ships using the canal worries shipping firms that container carriers may be forced to pay ever-higher prices, or face waits of up six days, to receive a canal slot.</p><p>The price of buying a slot does not include the normal tariff, which varies according to weight.</p>