The MOL Majesty — the first container ship to reach Miami after passing through the expanded Panama Canal — was greeted with a water cannon salute on July 9 and a dockside celebration. Speaker after speaker extolled Miami’s arrival in the big-ship era before settling down to an all-American barbecue.

The Miami celebration echoed the excitement that swept Panama three weeks earlier when the COSCO Shipping Panama, a ship owned by a Chinese line, made the first voyage through the canal’s new locks. Fireworks lit the sky above the canal. And a baby born that Sunday was even named Cosco Martínez.

Ever since Panamanians voted overwhelmingly a decade ago to modernize the waterway that has been the path between the Atlantic and the Pacific since 1914, the expanded canal has been hailed as a game changer. But now that it’s a reality, the benefits for Panama, PortMiami and other U.S. East and Gulf Coast ports are expected to be more gradual than immediate.