An interoceanic canal 80 kilometres long "keys in hand" and capable of doubling Panama's income to up to $5 billion. That is the result of the delivery report signed between the international consortium led by Salini Impregilo and the governing authority that manages the passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans at the narrowest point of the Americas. On the eve of the inauguration of the new Panama Canal, with the passage of the first ship of the Post-Panamax era, the consortium and the authority conducted the official consignment of the project and the command to put it into full service.

For this colossal project, the first ship has cleaned itself up and changed her name from “Andronikos” to “COSCO Shipping Panama”. She is the ship - 300 metres long and 48.25 metres wide - that left the Greek port of Piraeus to arrive in Panama on June 26 for the baptism of the new Canal.

The official inauguration of the project will be celebrated with the passage of the COSCO Shipping Panama that will arrive at dawn at the mouth of the new canal on the Atlantic coast. It will pass through the “Agua Clara” set of locks, cross Gatún Lake and arrive at the other set of locks on the Pacific side at “Cocoli” by early afternoon. After 10 hours of voyage, Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela and heads of state and government ministers from all over the world will be there to welcome it.

The ship, the huge Chinese COSCO Shipping Panama, flying the Marshall Islands flag, will open the era of the Post-Panamax in world trade. These ships are up to 360 metres in length and capable of carrying more than 12,000 containers, triple what was carried by smaller, so-called Panamax ships through the old canal built more than 100 years ago.

The project built by a consortium led by Salini Impregilo has technical aspects that are unique in the world, such as the system of sliding sluice gates that allow ships to rise 27 metres above sea level to the sail across Gatún Lake, one of the largest artificial lakes in the world. Once they reach the other set of locks on the other coast, they get lowered to sea level and leave the canal.