Largest ship transits Canal as forecast rate doubles

THE  LARGEST vessel to ever navigate the  Panama Canal passed  through on Tuesday, May 2.

The Cosco  Development which has a capacity of 13,992 containers, is 366 meters long and 48.2 meters high.

The ship began its journey in Asia and will become the largest vessel to reach the east coast of the United States where it is scheduled to arrive  next week.

The vessel is part of the new OCEAN Alliance. The alliance includes China Cosco Shipping, Orient Overseas Container Lines, CMA CGM Group and Evergreen, which are among thelargest customers of the waterway by volume.

So far, the expanded Canal, which opened in June 2016 has received about 1,200 neopanamax ships, an average of 5.9 ships per day.

The initial forecast was for two to three daily transits  for the first year of opetations