After disappointing years from 2006 to 2014, things are looking up at PortMiami. In March, the port handled 97,577 TEUs of cargo — the second-highest monthly total in the port’s history — and, so far, cargo traffic is up 5.8% over the same period in fiscal 2017.

In a telephone interview with the Miami Herald, Panama Canal Administrator Jorge Quijano reviewed the first year of the canal expansion, a massive project that included state-of-the art locks on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the canal, a new 3.8 mile access channel, and widening and deepening at various locations along the 50-mile long canal.

The dollar volume of trade through the Miami Customs District slid for the fourth straight year in 2016, but there are indications that the long decline may be over.

The Panama Canal truly entered the big-ship era the week of May 8 when the largest vessel to date — a vessel from Asia that is as long as the Eiffel Tower is high and 158 feet wide — transited the expanded canal en route to the United States.

PortMiami officially joined the Neopanamax era July 9, when the MOL Majesty — a vessel too big to fit through the original Panama Canal — became the first ship to arrive at the port after transiting the newly expanded canal.