Summary
One of the most impressive engineering feats of the 20th Century, the newly-expanded Panama Canal is now open for business. The new locks are the size of the Empire State Building, with doors that were built using enough steel for 19 Eiffel towers and walls lined with enough basalt rock for two of Giza’s great pyramids. They can accommodate much bigger ships which able to carry more than 13,000 containers, whereas previously the biggest ships the canal could accommodate could carry only 5,000 of them. They has double the capacity now. And a massive Chinese container ship was the first to use the new 48mile lane on its way to the US, symbolically linking the canal’s two biggest users.
Opinion
I think the Panama Canal expansion is beneficial for world. World trade will grow larger due to the Panama Canal expansion. It is based on 6 years research, which included more than 100 studies on the economic feasibility, market demand, environmental impact and other technical engineering aspects. So I think this large project is made up of minute plans. And it will cause change of sea-lanes all over the world. For example, large ships from Japan can directly go to East Coast of the US. Before the Panama Canal expansion, these ships can’t directly go to East Coast of the US. So I think world will become more convenient due to it.