Watch: Aerial View Of Container Ship Entering New Panama Canal Locks

The recently completed Panama Canal expansion project remains as a critical step in the future of this century-old artificial canal, which handles about a third of the trades between Asia and America.

An incredible video shot using a drone gives an aerial view of the expanded Panama Canal and the entering of a large container ship to the new Panama Canal Locks.

The video, uploaded on Facebook by Jorge Quijano, CEO of the Panama Canal Authority, reveals the efforts put in to let a ship to pass through the canal. The footage shows a vessel enters the locks with the help of four tugs and places itself comfortably in the canal.

The expanded canal officially opened June last year, when a 984-foot Chinese container ship cleared the new massive locks. The effort to expand the 103-year-old canal took almost a decade to finish the works, with the help of around 40,000 workers.

The project saw the two new sets of lock complexes, one on the Pacific coast, while the other one on the northern coast at Colon.With the new set of locks, the expanded canal offers an easier way between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The canal is now also capable of accommodating large enough to carry up to 14,000 containers, known as neo-Panamax ships.

The opening of larger locks last year is reportedly attracting more exports to Asia from U.S. Gulf ports, delivering LNG, coal and grain cargos.

Moreover, with the expansion, the Panama Canal became more competitive with the Egypt’s Suez Canal, reducing the travel time from Asia to the U.S. East Coast by roughly five days.

Press Release