<P> The Panama Canal expansion project, also called the Third Set of Locks Project, doubled the capacity of the Panama Canal by adding a new lane of traffic allowing for a larger number of ships, and increasing the width and depth of the lanes and locks allowing larger ships to pass . The new larger size of ships, called New Panamax, are about one and a half times the previous Panamax size and can carry over twice as much cargo . The expanded canal began commercial operation on 26 June 2016 . </P> <P> The project has: </P>

When is the new panama canal scheduled to open