Wang Weihua, China's permanent representative at the Office of Development in Panama, said that with the expanded lane able to accommodate larger ships, COSCO SHIPPING will be able to use its fleet of bigger ships to better compete in the global market.

Xu said the company hopes to promote trade cooperation between China and Panama via the canal.

COSCO SHIPPING is the result of a merger earlier this year between Cosco Group and China Shipping Group. The Panama vessel was loaded with containers bearing the names "Cosco" and "China Shipping" onboard.

The company said that many of its new Panamax ships, which include large container and bulk carriers as well as tankers, will be able to pass through the wider lane. COSCO SHIPPING deploys its larger ships to enhance service to the US East Coast, it said.

The COSCO SHIPPING Panama, launched in January 2016, measures 984 feet long and 158 feet in beam. It carries a capacity of 9,472 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) and was named in honor of the inaugural visit as well as for the people of Panama, according to maritime news site Marine Link.

The ceremony marked the end of the largest construction project at the Panama Canal since its opening in 1914. The expansion doubles the canal's cargo capacity, adding a third lane to accommodate ships that can carry about 14,000 containers, up from the 5,000 that ships now carry.

The expansion was geared to make the canal more competitive after the global shipping industry was diminished by the financial crisis of 2008.

Though canal traffic increased 3.7 percent last year compared with the previous year, cargoes had grown only 1 percent compared with 7 percent the prior year, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The canal lost about 10 to 15 percent of its annual revenue to the Suez Canal in Egypt, and authorities hope that they can win back shipping lines that switched over to the Suez Canal or used West Coast ports in the US, anticipating that revenue will increase 16 percent next year.

The opening of the third lane will shorten ships' journeys from Asia to the Americas at a time when about one-third of all Asia-to-America trade passes through the canal, which was built in the early 20th century by the United States under President Theodore Roosevelt.

"The adjustments in container lines and significant time and cost savings will benefit the global shipping industry while driving regional and even world, economic growth," Xu said.

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com