Expanded Panama Canal open for business

The inaugural transit began with the passage of the neo-panamax vessel COSCO Shipping Panama through the Agua Clara Locks on the Atlantic side of the country and conclude with its transit through the Cocoli Locks on the Pacific side. The ship was en route to Asia.

Panama Canal administrator and chief executive Jorge Quijano said: “More than 100 years ago, the Panama Canal connected two oceans. Today, we connect the present and the future. It is an honour to announce that what we did, we did it together: providing this great connection to the world. This the beginning of a new era.”

The Expansion Program is Panama Canal’s largest enhancement project. More than 75% of Panamanians approved the project in a nation-wide referendum in 2006, and, in 2007, construction of the $5.25bn project began.

It included the construction of a new set of locks on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the waterway and the excavation of more than 150 million cubic meters of material, creating a second land of traffic and doubling the cargo capacity of the waterway.