![]() ![]() ![]() In May 2017, the Canal Authority noted that this number had increased to an average of 5.9 vessels per day. ![]() Since June 2016, the number of Neo-Panamax vessels passing through the new locks per day has climbed from one vessel in the beginning to an average of four ships per day in early 2017,” says Jeffrey van der Gugten, Market Analyst at DNV GL – Maritime. “But over the course of the first year, the speed at which larger vessels are processed has increased significantly. This process is a lot more complex than the locomotive system,” explains Marcus Ihms, Ship Type Expert Container Ships at DNV GL – Maritime. “Instead of pulling vessels through with locomotives mounted on each side of a lock, vessels are navigated through using tugboats– with one connected to each end of the ship. This is because the procedure for guiding ships through, has changed significantly. Initially, traffic at the new locks was slow. Increasing the size of vessels able to pass through, from a maximum length of 294 metres and a beam of 32.2 metres, to 366 metres and 49 metres, means that today 80 per cent of the world’s fleet, based on GT, can transit the Panama Canal. The construction of two new sets of locks on the Pacific and the Atlantic sides of the canal was by far the most important component of the expansion. ![]() This expansion project has opened up a new shipping lane for larger, Neo-Panamax vessels. Today, roughly 18 months later, more than 2,500 Neo-Panamax have undertaken the same journey. The container ship was the first vessel to travel through the expanded Panama Canal. On the 26 June 2016 in Panama the COSCO Shipping Panama slowly glided along the 427- by 55-metre chamber, and while two tugboats carefully manoeuvred the vessel into the new locks, onlookers held their breath. ![]()
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