To give you some examples, the existing Panama locks allow ships up to 294m long with a maximum draft of 12.5m. The upgraded canal with its much bigger locks will take ships up to 366m long with a draft of 18.3m. The lake's also been dredged and will have its surface lifted by 1.5m, not least because ships sit lower in fresh water than they do in denser salt water. It's the draft that is particularly important in calculating capacity increases, and the planners are catering for a 46 per cent increase in maximum draft.

That bigger capacity will accept a good number of Capesize ships, which will therefore at least double the size of the cargoes that Vale and other Atlantic-based producers can send straight through to China. Bear in mind that while Australia enjoys a geographical advantage over Brazil as an iron ore supplier to Asia, Vale's iron ore is of slightly higher quality, so competition to ship ore into China is going to heat up.
The biggest ships will still have to go the long way round from Brazil past Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope. It takes around 46 days for a ship to travel from Brazil to China around Africa, the usual route, which is about a week longer than using Panama. The upgrade would mean an iron ore cargo of close to 100,000 tonnes from Vale's loaders in the south Atlantic could go straight through the upgraded canal to a Chinese port.

And

Shipping sources say the Panama upgrade will almost triple the maximum capacity of the container ships or "box boats" using it from 5000 TEUs to around 12,000 or 13,000 TEUs.

Eoin Treacy's view This story is in the "tomorrow's jam" category but lowering the cost of transporting goods around the world appears to be a win-win scenario for just about everyone, particularly Panama.