[twelvechairs]

Panamax is simply a much less important standard for China than for the USA because of proximity to the Panama Canal. Generally they can (and do) support larger ships but often with lower draft. Much of their shipping infrastructure is better for modern larger capesize vessels than the US. There's a reason they have something like 7-8 of the top 10 world porta in basically every category and it's not because they are worried about the Panamax standard

[nexus6mike]

This is an excellent point. Certainly, China seems to be managing fine without many Panamax ports