The expansion mainly consists of two new locks, each with three slots.  The newly expanded locks are meant to double the canal’s capacity.  They were initially scheduled to open in 2014, on the canal’s 100th anniversary.  The Panama Canal operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 35 to 40 ships are expected to pass through every day. Each trip takes about eight to ten hours. The new locks can accommodate 98% of the ships currently afloat; however that number is expected to drop as even larger ships are launched.
The completed refit, after a 2-year delay and at a cost of US$5.25bn, comes at a difficult moment for the shipping industry.  International trade has slowed as China’s economic growth has stalled.  In Egypt the Suez Canal – Panama’s main rival – recently lowered tariffs in an attempt to keep its traffic.
There was little sign of worry though as the 48-metre wide and 300-metre long vessel, appropriately named “Cosco Shipping Panama,†bearing 9,472 shipping containers, approached the Panamanian isthmus on Sunday, becoming the first vessel to officially pass through the new canal.  Thousands of people danced in the stands erected on the banks of the newly constructed Cocolà locks, while others gathered around large screens placed throughout Panama. The special guest section of the opening ceremony, which housed about 3,000 people, was packed with delegations from different countries, business associates and heads of different authorities and organizations – including Jill Biden, wife of US vice-president Joe Biden, who was leading the US delegation. (Up until 1999, the canal was under the US authority.)
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[Source – The Guardian 27 June 2016: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/27/panama-canal-expansion-reopens-trade]
