Milan, August 16, 2017 – The new Panama Canal, built by a consortium led by Salini Impregilo, has registered the transit of more than 2,000 ships, a greater number than had been anticipated after a little more than a year in operation.

With the passage of 2,003 ships since its opening on June 26, 2016, the canal has proven itself to be one of the world’s most efficient pieces of infrastructure to have been built in recent decades.

Following the training of workers responsible for the operation of the canal, the average number of daily transits by New Panamax ships has risen to six from three. Ships of this category are more than 360 metres in length and have triple the cargo capacity of those that use the old canal, which recently celebrated 103 years of operation.

The biggest ship to have used the new canal so far has been a French OOCL container measuring 366.47 metres in length and 48.23 metres in width. It sailed through the canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with 13,926 containers onboard.

According to official data provided by the Panama Canal Authority as of August 15, the new canal has served 946 container ships, or 47.2% of the total, 544 oil tankers, or 27.2% of the total, and 158 gas tankers, or 7.9% of the total. Among other types of ships that have sailed through the canal was the new Disney Wonder cruise ship 300 metres long with 2,713 people on board.