Name and Location
Panama Canal expansion project.

Client
The government of Panama, represented by Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP).

Project Description
The project entails the expansion of the Panama Canal by adding a third set of locks, one at each end of the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the canal.

Each lock facility will feature three chambers, nine water-saving basins, a lateral filling and emptying system and rolling gates.

The Atlantic locks complex will be located east of the existing Gatún locks complex, and the Pacific locks complex will be located south-west of the existing Miraflores locks, in Cocolí.

The location of the complexes will occupy an extensive section of the excavations performed by the US government for the third set of locks project, which started in 1939.

The new locks will each be 427 m long, beam of 49 m and a draught of 15.2 m, suitable for ships of up to 366 m in length.

The existing locks are each 304.8 m long, 55 m wide and 18.3 m deep, with a beam of 32.3 m and a draught of 12.4 m, which can accommodate ships of up to 294.1 m in length.

The excavation of new navigational channels will allow for access between the new locks and the existing channels, as well as the deepening and widening of the existing channels.

Widening the existing channels to 218 m will allow for the navigation of post-Panamax vessels through these channels in one direction at a time.

The Gaillard Cut and Gatún Lake navigation channels will be deepened by 1.2 m to a precise level datum (PLD) of
9.2 m, raising the maximum operational level of Gatún Lake by 0.45 m, from its existing 26.7 m PLD to 27.1 m PLD.

This project component will increase Gatún Lake’s functional water-reserve capacity.

Deepening Culebra Cut and Gatún Lake, and increasing their maximum operating level, will improve the canal’s water supply and draft dependability.

These measures are intended to allow for the expanded canal to operate without the construction of new reservoirs.

Value
The project is estimated at more than $5.25-billion.

Duration
Commercial transits are expected to begin in mid-2015.

Latest Developments
Filling the new locks started in June this year, marking the start of a planned and methodical phase of operational testing of the locks, including its culvert valves, maintenance bulkheads and gates.

This stage of testing is meant to timely detect and correct any deficiencies.

As the locks were being stress-tested through exposure to level differentials much higher than those required for normal operations, but that might occur during dry-chamber maintenance works in the future, some water seepage was detected in a specific area of the new Pacific locks in a section that separates the middle chamber and lower chamber.

ACP is awaiting a formal report from Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), following detailed inspections.

The report will include the root cause analysis conducted and the recommended repair method. Upon evaluating the report’s findings, the ACP will assess and communicate whether the project’s completion timeline will be altered.

ACP has designated two independent external structural engineers to conduct an objective evaluation of the reasons for this localised issue and to assess GUPC’s solution.

Meanwhile, the expansion project has reached 93% completion.

Parallel work is continuing, including testing in other areas, the removal of the strip of land known as a ‘plug’, separating the new Cocolí locks from the Pacific Ocean, culminating in Pacific Access Channel work.

Further, the removal of the dyke or plug that separates the Atlantic Ocean waters from the new Atlantic lock has started and is progressing at a good pace.

GUPC has the obligation to ensure the long-term performance of all aspects of the construction of the locks and to correct any faults.

Moreover, GUPC’s contract with ACP dictates that the group is responsible for modifications and corrections that it required.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Japan Bank for International Cooperation, European Investment Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Andean Development Corporation and the International Finance Corporation (loan finance); the Grupo Unidos por el Canal joint venture, comprising Jan de Nul, Sacyr Vallehermoso, Impregilo and Constructora Urbana (Cusa) (design and construction of the new third set of locks); Peri (planning and supply of formwork and scaffolding systems); Cusa (excavation of the Pacific access channel Phase 1); Cilsa Panama-Minera María consortium (excavation of the Pacific access channel Phase 2); Constructora Meco (excavation of the Pacific access channel Phase 3); a consortium comprising Constructora ICA, Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas and Constructora Meco (excavation of the Pacific access channel Phase 4); Dredging International (dredging of the Pacific entrance navigational channel, the Gatún Lake north access channel and the Atlantic entrance); ACP (dredging for the deepening and widening of Gatún Lake and deepening of Culebra Cut); Jan de Nul (dredging of the new Pacific access channel north approach); Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (conduit valves).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
ACP corporate communications, tel +507 272 7602.