News
Completion of the Panama Canal Expansion will be delayed by one year to mid-2015 instead of the original deadline of mid-2014 as the program is only 50 percent complete to date.
According to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), dredging of the navigational channels has been completed. This included both Canal entrances, on the Pacific and Atlantic sides, as well as Gaillard Cut. The remaining dredging work to be done in Gatun Lake is expected to be completed this year.
The excavations of the Pacific lock access channel are 70 percent complete. This project calls for the excavation of more than 50 million cubic meters of materials along a 6.1 km span and is executed in four phases. Three of the four phases have been completed and the fourth phase is 69 percent complete.
Construction of the new locks has a 37 percent progress. The new lock complexes in the Pacific and Atlantic sides will feature three chambers, three water-saving basins per chamber, a lateral filling and emptying system and rolling gates.
After completion, a new Panamax container ship will be 366 meters in maximum length (currently 294m), 49.15m in beam (currently 32.3m) and 15m in draft (currently 12m).
''We estimate based on the progress that we can begin commercial transits mid-2015,'' said the Panama Canal Administrator.
