Panama Canal Lock Fix Date Set

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has announced that reinforcing work as a result of the leak found in the Pacific locks will be completed by January 2016. However, a final date for the completion of the new locks has not yet been set.

Grupo Unidos por el Canal, S.A. (GUPC), the main contractor for the design and construction of the Third Set of Locks project, informed the ACP of the deadline during a meeting Thursday, November 28.

As part of its remaining work, GUPC will continue conducting in-depth inspections and reinforcement of each individual sill. Afterward, GUPC plans to continue the electro-mechanical testing on the filling and emptying systems of the new locks.

Filling of the locks began on June 22, and the ACP announced in late August that the canal had sprung a leak.

The leak that occurred in the concrete sill between the lower and middle chamber of the Canal’s expanded Pacific Locks was the result of insufficient steel reinforcing.

Although a completion date for the locks hasn’t been set, GUPC announced that they will implement a strategy, along with their providers and subcontractors, that will help reduce the impact on the delivery date.

The Panama Canal Expansion Program is currently 95 percent complete.

Reported in the The Maritime Executive