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PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama Canal authorities say a Chinese container ship's damaging scrape with the canal's new wider locks was caused by bad weather and the vessel not lining up correctly.
Canal administrator Jorge Quijano said Tuesday there was intense rain, poor visibility and winds between 30 and 40 knots when the ship carrying 9,000 containers was using the locks Thursday.
Quijano says it was the only such incident in the widened canal's first month of operation. He says unfortunately these things happen in their business.
Before the canal's inauguration, some tug boat captains expressed concern about having relatively little room to maneuver with the huge New Panamax ships.
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