Bigger ships: Panama celebrates opening its expanded canal
A 984-foot Chinese container ship cleared the new massive locks of the Panama Canal on Sunday, becoming the first to officially pass through the expanded canal and sparking a new dawn for Panama and global shipping.
The $5.4 billion effort to expand the 102-year-old canal took nearly 10 years and the sweat from 40,000 workers to complete. The new set of locks now allows ships carrying up to 14,000 containers, known as neo-Panamax ships, to cut a quicker path between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. U.S. ports have been investing billions of dollars to expand their facilities in a race to accommodate the mega ships.
The expanded canal nearly triples the capacity of ships transiting the canal, from those able to carry 5,000 containers to up to 14,000 containers, and is expected to bring increased revenue to Panama"
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From June 20th to 22nd, 2016:
(They made the Panama Canal larger, but large ships Shipping to US is down.)
Panama Canal expands as trade falls flat
Marketplace.org-Jun 20, 2016
On Sunday, the new Panama Canal — one of the most important arteries for commerce in the world — opens for business. This new, wider channel will allow bigger ships loaded with more stuff to squeeze through, which means the Panamanians can charge bigger tolls. But what about the rest of the world?
The thing that no one is talking about is: By many measures, this canal is opening as world trade growth is petering out.
"The most significant part is not the amount of the vessels, but the size of the vessels," said Ilya de Marotta, executive vice president for engineering at the Panama Canal Authority.
http://www.marketplace.org/2016/06/17/world/panama-canal-expand-trade-growth
It's a long read with graphics and videos, all the problems, delays and the added expense
The New Panama Canal: A Risky Bet - The New York Times
How a $3.1 Billion Expansion Collided With Reality
JUNE 22, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/22/world/americas/panama-canal.html?_r=0
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