Cosco Shipping Panama, the first container ship to pass through the expanded Panama Canal on June 26th, set sail on Saturday, June 11th from the port of Piraeus, Greece, on its way to this Central American country.
According to official sources, Jorge Luis Quijano, Panama Canal Administrator, during his visit in Greece with a delegation of the Panama Canal Authority, met the ship’s captain, Jude Rodrigues, and his crew, before the container ship makes the 14-day crossing.
“It was great being able to meet the captain and crew and see the quality of the team that will be piloting the ship through the waters of the canal together with our personnel who will be aboard that day from very early on,” Quijano said in an official statement.
The New Panamax vessel, 48.25 meters (158 feet) abeam and 299.98 meters (984 feet) long, was launched in January this year, and will carry through the canal its maximum cargo of 9,472 TEUs (containers).
On inauguration day, the ship will start in the morning in the locks of Agua Clara on the Caribbean side, and will end in the locks of Cocoli on the Pacific in the afternoon. The rest of the crossings will continue the next day, the statement said.
