Thousands gathered on both sides of the Panama Canal locks yesterday to watch the first ship pass from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean through the newly opened $7.45 billion expansion to the canal.
As time-lapse footage illustrates, the century-old canal is now open to a new generation of supersized cargo ships after years of massive expansion works aimed at profiting from burgeoning US-Asia trade.
A giant Chinese-chartered freighter, baptised COSCO Shipping Panama especially for the occasion, made its way along the 80 kilometre waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Its passage was to show off the third shipping lane and gargantuan locks built into the canal catering to vessels of its class, known as Neopanamax, or New Panamax, ships.
It stopped in the locks giving access to the Pacific, where VIPs and 25,000 Panamanians had gathered to celebrate the inauguration.
