The ship “Cosco Shipping Panama” inaugurates the expansion of the Central American canal

The container ship “Cosco Shipping Panama”, flagged in the Marshall Islands, has been the first to inaugurate this morning the expansion of the Panama Canal, considered the largest civil engineering work of the century so far. For the toll, the shipping company will pay $586,000, decided by lottery. A journey of 77 kilometers compartmentalized with a series of locks to overcome the height difference between both oceans. The main gates measure 55 m long, 33 m high, and weigh 4,300 tons.

The aforementioned ship, with a cargo of 9,400 TEUs, crosses the expansion from Aguas Claras, on the Caribbean side, in a ceremony where about thirty thousand Panamanian citizens experience a patriotic day of great satisfaction for the accomplished work, executed by a group of companies led by the Spanish Sacyr Vallehermoso. The project is surrounded by controversy, in an unresolved episode of cost overruns amounting to $1.6 billion. The final cost is estimated to be around $5.45 billion and will allow the transit of 600 million tons annually.

The ship “Cosco Shipping Panama”, renamed for this historic occasion, has been built at the Hyundai shipyard, Samho factory (South Korea). “Andronikos” on the project, registers 94,300 gross tons and 111,614 deadweight tons, measures 300 m in length, 48.20 m in width, and 11 m in draft. It belongs to the new generation of container ships with a center bridge and engine at the stern. IMO Code 9732606.

Photo: Johan Ordóñez /AFP