A crowd witnesses the Neopanamax cargo ship, Cosco Shipping Panama, prepare to cross the new Agua Clara locks, part of the Panama Canal expansion project, near the port city of Colon, Panama, on Sunday. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

A giant Chinese-chartered freighter made its way through the Panama Canal on Sunday to mark the completion of nearly a decade of expansion work which is expected to boost global trade.

The vessel, purposely renamed COSCO Shipping Panama, will inaugurate the widened canal in a voyage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean via a new shipping lane and gigantic locks that have been fitted to the century-old waterway.

"It is a historic day for the country," Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela said on Saturday.

Several heads of state and foreign dignitaries have been invited to the ceremony marking the occasion.

China is the second-biggest user of the canal, which provides a short cut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by cutting across the narrow Central American isthmus.

The 50-mile canal has been widened at an estimated cost of more than $7 billion to triple its capacity by allowing bigger bulk carriers to cross through.

About five percent of the world's maritime traffic travels through the canal, with an average 35-40 ships passing through every day.

The US -- which built the original canal opened in 1914 -- will be represented by Jill Biden and the US ambassador to Panama.

The expansion's aim is to greatly boost Panama's revenue from shipping passage fees, currently worth a billion dollars. Its expansion is expected to greatly benefit commercial traffic between North America and Asia. The expansion work carried out since 2007 - and delivered two years later at a cost of at least $5.5 billion - allows a new generation of much larger ships, known as Neopanamax class vessels, to ply the canal.

Taipei Times reported Wednesday that Taiwan's new leader Tsai Ing-wen might hold informal talks with Jill Biden, US Vice President Joe Biden's wife, at the ceremony.