The Panama Canal announced that it completed a transit trial of the container ship Tritón, of the Evergreen shipping company, the largest and largest container vessel to make the lock for the Canal expanded since its opening in June 2016.
The neopanamax container Triton achieved a record of 15,313 TEUs allowed in the Panama Canal.
Jorge Luis Quijano, Panama Canal Administrator commented
We are excited about the opportunities provided by the Triton transit test. Our team continues to offer additional capacity and fulfill the promise of providing a safe and efficient service to our customers. Today’s traffic exceeded the 15,000 TEUs mark, establishing a record in terms of maximum container capacity for the Panama Canal.
As with the Q-Flex transit that was another accomplishment for the Panama Canal on May 12, the Tritón container vessel is a milestone and reflects a new era for container ships in the expanded Canal.
Additionally, from June 2018 the Canal increased the beam from 49 meters to 51.25 meters due to the training and experience acquired by the team during the operation of the neopanamax locks in almost three years.
The Triton is located within the Evergreen Far East – East Coast of the United States (AUE) service as part of the OCEAN Alliance network, which connects the ports of Asia and the East Coast of the United States through the Panama Canal.
The record for the longest container ship to transit the Canal by capacity was established on August 22, 2017, by CMA CGM Theodore Roosevelt, which measures 365.96 meters in length and 48,252 meters of beam and a total of TEUs allowed in the Canal of Panama of 14,863. Of the 6,000 Neopanamax vessels that have transited to date, close to 50% have been in the container ship segment.
