The Panama Canal Expansion is a major engineering project that seeks to widen and deepen the existing Panama Canal, allowing larger ships to pass through and increasing the capacity of the canal. The project includes the construction of a new set of locks, deepening of the navigational channels, and widening of the
The Panama Canal expansion project, also called the Third Set of Locks Project, doubled the capacity of the Panama Canal by adding a new traffic lane, enabling more ships to transit the waterway, and increasing the width and depth of the lanes and locks, allowing larger ships to pass. The new ships, called New Panamax, are about one and a half times larger than the previous Panamax size and can carry over twice as much cargo. The expanded canal began commercial operation on 26 June 2016.