Panama opens expanded canal to supersize ships

Panama City

PANAMA on Sunday declared its century-old canal open to a new generation of gigantic cargo ships after years of massive expansion works aimed at profiting from burgeoning US-Asia trade.

A giant Chinese-chartered freighter, baptised Cosco Shipping Panama especially for the occasion, made its way along the 80-kilometre waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Its passage was to show off the third shipping la…