Expanded Panama Canal opens

PANAMA CITY, Panama - With a band playing and flags waving, a Chinese ship carrying more than 9,000 containers entered June 26 the newly expanded locks that will double the Panama Canal's capacity for international shipping. Several tugs pulled "Cosco Shipping Panama" into the new locks at Agua Clara under a cloudy sky in Colon province, about 50 miles north of the capital. Nearly two years behind schedule, the $5.25 billion project formally launched with the transit of the 984-foot-long Chinese-owned ship. (Source: The Associated Press 06/26/16)