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Panama Canal Celebrates 102nd Anniversary with Milestone 100th Transit through New Locks
[ August 24, 2016 // Gary G Burrows ]The Panama Canal celebrated 102 years of successful operations and service to the global maritime community on August 15, just one day after welcoming its 100th transit through the Expanded waterway.
The two milestones punctuate a year for the Canal which has already been marked by a number of notable achievements.
Less than two months following the Expanded Canal’s historic June 26 Inauguration, the Neopanamax vessel Hanjin Xiamen became the 100th vessel to transit the new locks, passing through the Canal on the morning of Sunday, August 14. The Panama-flagged containership, which measures 294 meters in length and 40 meters in beam, made its northbound transit from the Pacific to Atlantic Ocean, destined for New York.
To ensure the continued reliability of the Canal over the past 102 years, constant maintenance of the original locks has been crucial. And, for that reason, the Panama Canal has invested more than $3.3 billion in improvements of the original waterway in the past 17 years alone.
Tags: Panama canal