The $5.25 billion Panama Canal expansion project, intended to accommodate Post-Panamax ships that are currently too big to pass through the current Canal, is scheduled to be operational by April 2016. According to the Panama Canal Authority, the project will increase the canal's annual capacity from 300 million tons of cargo to 600 million tons and will effectively triple the amount of cargo that can be brought on a single ship. The project will facilitate the burgeoning Asia-Americas trade by allowing more and bigger ships to pass through the canal and alleviating the canal's detainment problem; while 40 vessels are able to pass through the canal every day, 100 more will be on the waiting list.
"The expansion of the canal...is good news for Chinese shipping companies," says Wei Chunfeng, manager of the Panama branch of China Ocean Shipping Company. "The shipping cost of each TEU [twenty-foot equivalent unit] will be lower... To shipping companies, being able to transport more cargo at a lower cost is very important. Most Chinese products available in American supermarkets are shipped through the Panama Canal."
In addition to boosting Chinese exports to the Americas, the expansion of the canal should also boost the competitiveness of American exports to China. Agricultural produce from the Midwestern United States transported via the Mississippi River and from Br...
The $5.25 billion Panama Canal expansion project, intended to accommodate Post-Panamax ships that are currently too big to pass through the current Canal, is scheduled to be operational by April 2016. According to the Panama Canal Authority, the project will increase the canal's annual capacity from 300 million tons of cargo to 600 million tons and will effectively triple the amount of cargo that can be brought on a single ship. The project will facilitate the burgeoning Asia-Americas trade by allowing more and bigger ships to pass through the canal and alleviating the canal's detainment problem; while 40 vessels are able to pass through the canal every day, 100 more will be on the waiting list.
"The expansion of the canal...is good news for Chinese shipping companies," says Wei Chunfeng, manager of the Panama branch of China Ocean Shipping Company. "The shipping cost of each TEU [twenty-foot equivalent unit] will be lower... To shipping companies, being able to transport more cargo at a lower cost is very important. Most Chinese products available in American supermarkets are shipped through the Panama Canal."
In addition to boosting Chinese exports to the Americas, the expansion of the canal should also boost the competitiveness of American exports to China. Agricultural produce from the Midwestern United States transported via the Mississippi River and from Br...