Three LNG tankers sailed through the Panama Canal on the same day this week, marking a first for the newly expanded waterway and highlighting the booming global gas trade.

Three liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers transited the Panama Canal on the same day earlier this week, a new benchmark although there have been over dozen days when two of the specialized vessel have passed through the newly expanded locks, built to accommodate giant postpanamax vessels.

All three ships -- Gaslog Hong Kong, Gaslog Gibraltar, and Clean Ocean -- entered the canal on a staggered basis from the Pacific side on Tuesday and had completed their crossings by early Wednesday, according to Bloomberg and confirmed by  The Canal Authority(ACP).

The crossings underscore how the LNG trade has surged worldwide as new export facilities from the U.S. to Australia rumble to life and buyers in Asia boost their demand for the fuel says, Bloomberg.

The canal completed a $5 billion expansion almost two years ago, and  US  traders and terminal developers have been closely watching the authority's ability to accommodate the jump in tanker traffic and increase confidence about the U.S.'s ability to place LNG in China if President Trump can rein in his ant-China rhetoric.

By March this year, 134 LNG carriers had passed the Panama Canal in the current fiscal year.

"As demand from the LNG segment continues to grow," the canal is "taking the necessary steps to increase capacity commensurate with demand," said an ACP statement.

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