Enhancement of the Panama Canal Comes to a Close

The contractor in charge of building the Panama Canal’s third set of locks has announced that an important phase of the project has been finished.

“A new milestone in the Third Lock Set project has been achieved this morning by Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), the consortium involved in the design and construction of this work, as the 1W dike has been completely filled, one of the components that make up the Borinquen dams" the company explains in a press release.

According to the explanation, the Borinquen dams are key elements in terms of the functionality of the new locks as they are the approach canal that will have vessels sailing from Culebra to the brand-new locks in the Pacific Ocean.

“The construction of these dams is a very important technical challenge in the project since they have been built on an irregular area where geological faults have been reported. Our team got through the difficulties and finally built the dikes”, José Peláez, GUPC’s Project Director, said.

Four floodgates were received on weekend, totaling twelve. There are only four floodgates to be brought. The Extension Program of Panama Canal has achieved a 79 percent advance to date.