The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announced that the Panama Canal Expansion will be officially inaugurated on June 26, 2016. The announcement was made by Jorge Quijano, Canal Authority Administrator, during the inauguration ceremony of the Canal’s state-of-the-art Scale Model Maneuvering Training Facility, which will provide additional hands-on experience to pilots and tugboat captains to operate in the Expanded Panama Canal.

The expansion may shift international trade routes, because It’ll make room for vessels with the capacity to carry 13,000/14,000 TEUs, almost three times what the existing locks permit, and will be able to handle tankers carrying liquefied natural gas.

The expansion is expected to raise the Canal’s record-high traffic levels yet further, to as much as 360 million tons in 2017.

The overall program has had a cost of US$5.25 billion.

Source: Panama Canal Authorithy