On August 11, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) breathed a sigh of relief when the main contractor for the New Third Set of Locks Project, Grupo Unidos por el Canal, reached an agreement with the National Union of Workers of Construction and Similar Industries that supersedes a strike call which would have halted work on the new locks’ construction site.
The expansion of the 101-year-old Canal is creating a new lane of traffic through the construction of a new set of locks, doubling the waterway’s capacity. When this new lane opens, sometime in the spring of 2016, so-called “Post-Panamax” vessels will be able to travel through the Atlantic-Pacific connector with up to 13,000 containers, versus the current 5,000-container limit.
As of late July, the massive $5.25 billion Canal expansion project had reached 94% completion, according to DredgingToday.com. The new lane’s 16 gates have been inserted into 22-story locksets, which have been flooded for testing purposes. Water flow through the structure’s calverts and chambers will be controlled by 152 valves. One of three dams on the north end of the Pacific side of the new lane has been completed. And construction continues on 32 buildings whose concrete volume exceeds 400 cubic meters, that will allow for 7% less water usage than the current locks.
The waterway and Gatun Lake have also been dredged to accommodate larger ships.
This expansion is reportedly spurring construction in port cities along the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, in anticipation of larger ships and more business coming their way. The Canal Authority also expects to lure new businesses with its wider, deeper waterway. In January for example, ACP signed a cooperation agreement with the Port of Lake Charles in Louisiana for the purpose of attracting new customers from the liquefied natural gas industry, whose vessels’ beam dimensions had prevented them from using the Canal in the past.
This expansion project, which has been ongoing for seven years, might not be the last word on the Canal’s growth, either. ACP reportedly is considering a $17 billion proposal from Harbour Engineering Company Ltd., a subsidiary of state-owned China Communications Construction Co Ltd., for a fourth set of locks big enough to handle ships with 18,000 to 20,000 containers.
Related Stories
Affordable Housing | Feb 15, 2023
2023 affordable housing roundup: 20+ multifamily projects
In our latest call for entries, Building Design+Construction collected over 20 multifamily projects with a focus on affordable housing. Here is a comprehensive list of all projects in alphabetical order.
Sponsored | Projects | Feb 6, 2023
How Suffolk Construction leverages Procore data in real-time with Toric
Read how Suffolk Construction enables project stakeholders to make better-informed project decisions faster by feeding data from sources like Procore and Oracle P6 as actionable insights.
Augmented Reality | Jan 27, 2023
Enhancing our M.O.O.D. through augmented reality therapy rooms
Perkins Eastman’s M.O.O.D. Space aims to make mental healthcare more accessible—and mental health more achievable.
Senior Living Design | Jan 10, 2023
8 senior living communities that provide residents with memory care
Here are eight senior living communities that offer their residents memory care, an important service for residents who need this specialized care.
Adaptive Reuse | Dec 21, 2022
University of Pittsburgh reinvents century-old Model-T building as a life sciences research facility
After opening earlier this year, The Assembly recently achieved LEED Gold certification, aligning with the school’s and community’s larger sustainability efforts.
K-12 Schools | Dec 20, 2022
Designing an inspiring, net zero early childhood learning center
LPA's design for a new learning center in San Bernardino provides a model for a facility that prepares children for learning and supports the community.
Student Housing | Dec 7, 2022
9 exemplary student housing projects in 2022
Production continued apace this year and last, as colleges and universities, for-profit developers, and their AEC teams scrambled to get college residences open before the start of classes.
Building Materials | Aug 3, 2022
Shawmut CEO Les Hiscoe on coping with a shaky supply chain in construction
BD+C's John Caulfield interviews Les Hiscoe, CEO of Shawmut Design and Construction, about how his firm keeps projects on schedule and budget in the face of shortages, delays, and price volatility.
Office Buildings | Apr 11, 2022
SOM-designed office tower aims to promote health and wellness
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) recently completed work on 800 Fulton Market, a new mixed-use office building in Chicago’s historic Fulton Market/West Loop neighborhood.
Government Buildings | Apr 11, 2022
Milan’s new US Consulate celebrates Italian design
In Milan, Italy, the new U.S. Consulate General broke ground on April 6. Managed by Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO), a U.S. government agency that directs overseas builds, the 10-acre campus will feature a new Consulate building, as well as the restoration of the site’s historic Liberty Building and reconstruction of a pavilion on the 80,000-square-foot parade ground.