Launch: Expanded Panama Canal operational

PANAMA CITY:  

Panama is preparing to officially open its canal this weekend to far bigger cargo ships after nearly a decade of expansion work aimed at boosting transit revenues and global trade. On Sunday, a VIP ceremony will be held on the banks of the canal to inaugurate the completion of the works. President Juan Carlos Varela will unveil the new locks and third shipping lane built into the 102-year-old canal. Foreign dignitaries, including the presidents of Taiwan, Chile, and other Central American nations, will be present at the ceremony. A Chinese-owned Neopanamax-class cargo ship will be the first vessel to officially test the new infrastructure, entering from the Atlantic and exiting into the Pacific a few hours later. The Neopanamax vessels are much bigger than the Panamax-class ships that previously were the largest able to pass through the 80-kilometer (50-mile) long canal.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2016.

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