Fox Latino News reports on the increased revenues of the Canal and the new locks are not even in operation yet!

The Panama Canal reported 2015 fiscal year revenues totaling $2.61 billion, 8 percent above the budget forecast although slightly less than FY 2014.

The Panama Canal Authority, or ACP, said Saturday on Twitter that cargo volumes of 340.8 million tons for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 9.8 percent above the forecast level, led to the higher-than-projected revenues.

Total revenues were 0.71 percent lower than those reported in fiscal year 2014, when they came in at $2.63 billion, the highest level in the 101-year history of the interoceanic waterway.

In 2007, administrators launched a $5.25 billion canal expansion project, including construction of a third set of locks that will enable the waterway to accommodate “post-Panamax” ships.

Those modern ships – used by the energy, and particularly the liquefied natural gas, industry – hold up to 12,000 20-foot-long containers and are three times bigger than what the canal can currently handle.

With the new set of locks, the canal will be able to handle up to 600 million tons of cargo annually, nearly double its current capacity.

The ACP expects the new locks to begin operating in April 2016.