The bidding on both engineering issues and cost was won by Grupo Unidos por el Canal S. A. (GUPCSA). This group is a partnership of Sacyr Vallermoso, Impregilo, JAN DE NUL and Constructora Urbana SA. A look at the periodic reports issued by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) gives us a clue as to the immensity of the project and the professionalism in how it is being carried out.
The contractors hope to open the new third lane of the canal in 2014, when the structures turns 100 years old. It is suppose to be a game changer with larger ships and more cargo. The challenge to the USA is to rise to the occasion and ship more cargo from out ports than we receive into them. If the manufacturing sector of the USA cannot rise to the challenge then the USA economy may be swamped a larger than ever trade deficit.
The contractors hope to open the new third lane of the canal in 2014, when the structures turns 100 years old. It is suppose to be a game changer with larger ships and more cargo. The challenge to the USA is to rise to the occasion and ship more cargo from out ports than we receive into them. If the manufacturing sector of the USA cannot rise to the challenge then the USA economy may be swamped a larger than ever trade deficit.
A new milestone was reached at the Panama Canal, (click title to entry - thank you) after completing the construction of the first monolith for the new locks on the Pacific end of the Panama Canal.
This monolith is the first one to be completed from a total of 46 such structures being built in the Pacific locks upper chamber. The term monolith refers to each of the sections in which the lock walls are being divided to facilitate their construction.
The massive concrete and steel structure is 33.84 meters high, 7.5 meters wide and 27 meters deep and is located in the upper chamber’s east side. The enormous culverts are part of the locks filling and emptying system and will run along the lock walls, made up of these monoliths. To give an idea of their dimensions, the main culvert alone is 8.3 meters wide by 6.5 meters high, big enough to enable the simultaneous passage of two railroads. The lock walls will also contain the auxiliary culverts measuring 6.5 meters wide by 6.5 meters high.
The construction of this monolith required 232 tons of reinforced steel and 2,605 cubic meters of concrete.
“As we reach another milestone, we at the Panama Canal are proud to acknowledge that this new third lane will be a game changer in world maritime commerce,” said Panama Canal Authority Administrator/ CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta....
