Even bigger ships will be able to use the Panama Canal after a decision to increase by two metres the maximum allowable width of vessels using the new neopanamax locks.
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) said that, effective from June 1 this year. the new maximum beam will be 51.25 metres as opposed to the previous limit of 49 metres.
It is almost two years since the June 2016 inauguration of the expanded third locks at the Canal.
Already some 3,000 ships have made the transit through the new locks.
A ship’s beam is its width at the widest point as measured at the vessel’s nominal waterline.
