Business View Caribbean - July 2016 15
we did it together: providing this great connection to
the world. This is the beginning of a new era.”
“Canal users can be assured that we’ll continue to
support the Panama Canal Authority and our port
operators to provide them a world class service
and strengthen our logistics system by creating the
necessary incentives and conditions to give added
value to our inter-oceanic route,” Varela noted.
The inaugural transit began with the passage of
Neopanamax vessel COSCO
Shipping Panama through the
Agua Clara Locks on the Atlantic
side of the country and conclud-
ed with its transit through the Co-
coli Locks on the Pacific side. The
ship is en route to Asia.
Considered and analyzed with
more than 100 studies, the ex-
pansion will provide greater
economies of scale to global
commerce. It will introduce new
routes, liner services, and seg-
ments such as liquefied natural
gas (LNG).
“We are thrilled that we currently have 170 reserva-
tions for Neopanamax ships, commitments of two
new liner services to the expanded Canal, and a res-
ervation for the first LNG vessel, which will transit
in late July,” Quijano added. “Our customers care
that their supply chain is reliable and that they have
a diversity of shipping options. And the Canal has
always been reliable; today, we offer the world new
shipping options and trade routes.”
The expansion program is the Canal’s largest en-
hancement project. In 2006, more than 75 percent
of Panamanians approved the project in a nation-
wide referendum, and, in 2007, construction of the
$5.25 billion project began. It included the construc-
tion 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 lane of traffic and doubling the cargo capac-
ity of the waterway.
In 2015, the original Canal set a tonnage record,
transiting 340.8 million PC/UMS. It will continue to
operate, transiting Panamax-sized vessels or small-
er. While the expansion’s locks are 70 feet wider and
18 feet deeper than those in the original Canal, they
use less water due to water-savings basins that re-
cycle 60 percent of the water used per transit.
COSCO Shipping Panama set sail June 11 from the
Greek port of Piraeus carrying 9,472 Twenty Foot
Equivalent Units (TEUs) and measuring 299.98 me-
ters in length and 48.25 meters in beam. Originally
named Andronikos, the vessel was renamed to hon-
or and pay respect to the country of Panama and the
Canal.
