THE Panama Canal Authority has announced that the project
to double the capacity of the Canal and allow passage to larger container ships
is half done.
"We estimate based on the progress that we can begin
commercial transits mid-2015," said Panama Canal Administrator Jorge
Quijano. Earlier, the date had been slated for mid-2014.
"The programme continues to progress and reach
milestones while we focus the next phases on building the locks," he says.
At the start of the New Year, several expansion projects
were complete. They include the dredging of the navigational channels at the
canal entrances on the Pacific and Atlantic sides, as well as Gaillard Cut. The
remaining dredging work in the Gatun Lake is expected to be done this year.
The excavations of the Pacific lock access channel are 70
per cent complete. This project calls for the excavation of 50 million cubic
metres of materials along a 6.1 kilometre span and is executed in four phases.
Three of the four phases have been completed and the fourth phase is 69 per
cent complete.
In addition, the first shipment of 47 valves, to be used
for the operation of the third set of locks, has been delivered. These valves
are part of the postpanamax locks electromechanical system that will regulate
water flow between the chambers, the culverts and water-saving basin conduit. A
second shipment is scheduled to arrive at the end of January. By the end of
2013, a total of 158 valves (culvert, equalisation and conduit), 84 bulkheads
and 328 trash racks will have arrived for the project. The valves where built
in South Korea by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries.
Construction of the new locks is 37 per cent complete.
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.
Source : HKSG, 28.01.13.
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