Panama Canal expansion to begin August
BALBOA, Panama (Reuters) - The first stage of a us$5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal should begin ahead of schedule by the end of August, a top canal official said on Wednesday.

Dredging works at the southern mouth of the canal on the Pacific will start in August instead of October as previously announced, Panama Canal Authority deputy administrator Jose Barrios said.

The first onshore excavation works are scheduled to begin before the end of calendar 2007, Barrios told Reuters in an interview.

Panama is aiming to build a third lane of locks to increase the canal's capacity and allow larger ships to travel between the Pacific and Caribbean.

It hopes to have the third lane operational in time for the canal's centennial in 2014.

The bidding specifications for the dredging would be ready next month, slightly late, Barrios said, but the bidding process would be short.

"Even if we don't get (the specifications) on time we are going to get ahead of schedule," he said.

 He said bidding terms for the excavation work had been published and that more firms than expected had expressed an interest in the tender.

The excavation project involves removing 8 million cubic meters of soil and rock where a the new lane will skirt around the current Miraflores and Pedro Miguel locks at 24 meters above sea level.

That work will begin after Panama's fiscal new year in October.

Barrios forecast strong growth in the canal's cargo tonnage, but smaller growth in the number of ships passing through.

For fiscal 2007, Barrios estimated the waterway would carry 320 million tonnes of cargo, an increase of 10.3 percent from earlier estimates.

Northbound container traffic from Asia is seen as the main thrust behind the rise in tonnage, although an increase in southbound grain cargo has also been noticed, Barrios said.

For fiscal 2008, he said the canal's "conservative" projection is for cargo flows to increase 6 million tonnes or 1.9 percent