Chinese ship to be the first to transit newly expanded Panama Canal

A Chinese-owned ship will be the first vessel to pass through Panama's newly expanded canal during the inauguration ceremony on June 26 after nine years of work, said officials.

The Panama Canal Administration said the Andronikos which is operated by Chinese shipping company Cosco was chosen through lottery.

Cosco is China's top shipping company and one of the five largest in the world, operating 800 merchant ships with an annual capacity of 400 million tonnes, according to IANS.

The 80-kilometer (50-mile) canal has been widened at an estimated cost of more than $7 billion to triple its capacity by allowing bigger bulk carriers to cross through.

"It is a historic moment not only for the Canal, but also for our company, which is a very young company that has just completed a merger between Cosco Group and China Shipping Group," the head of the firm's operation in Panama, Paul Xu, told EFE news.