On Sunday, the third shipment of four lock gates sent by the Post-Panamax vessel Xia Zhi Yuan 6 for the Panama Canal expansion reached its destination.

On August 17, the shipment started its journey from Trieste, Italy, before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to reach the entrance of the Panama Canal.

The project includes the construction of a third lane of traffic, so as to allow more and larger ships to transit, which will double the capacity of the canal.

The two gates that have reached this week are 57.6m long, 10m wide and 31.92m high, and weigh 4,163tons each. These gates are the heaviest among the 16 rolling gates to be used.

On October 2011, the construction of the gate was started by Subcontractor Cimolai. The shipment of the first gate reached on August 20, 2013, in Panama and the second on June 10, 2014. About 79% of the work to expand Panama Canal has been finished.

It is expected that the final shipment will reach in January 2015. Only one shipment of the 16 gates is left and it is needed for the 'Third Set of Locks' project.

"We hope to start a series of tests with the locks next year in the month of July or August". Panama Canal Administrator Jorge Quijano said after overseeing the arrival of a shipment of four new gates for the locks from Italy.

Test will be performed on a new set of locks that are important part of an expansion of the Panama Canal in mid-2015. The 100-year-old canal is in middle of a huge expansion. This expansion will permit the world's biggest tankers to pass through the isthmus.