Panama, Key Year for
Expanding the Canal
By Mario Esquivel
PANAMA - 2010 is likely to be a key year for
the Panama Canal as construction of the
third set of locks, a main component part of
the scheme for enlarging the maritime way,
gets underway.
Plus, carrying out this work is looked upon
as an important spur for the labor market,
since it is thought to bring about a number
close to five thousand jobs at its peak
stage of activity.
The program, in general, consists in
building two three-level- each lock
complexes, as well as enlarging and
deepening the Gatún lake's existing shipping
passages and the sea entrances from the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
The most outstanding contract belongs to the
Grupo Unido por el Canal Consortium (GUC)-
roughly Joint Group for the Canal-, made up
of enterprises Sacyr Vallehermoso S.A. from
Spain, Italian Impregilo S.P.A., Belgian Jan
de Nul and Panamanian Constructora Urbana
S.A.
The initial steps during the first quarter
of 2010 involve rescuing fauna in some 200
hectares located in areas of the Atlantic
and the Pacific Oceans, before undertaking a
controlled felling of trees.
As subcontractors for design, Montgomery
Watson Harza and Tetra Tech Companies (The
United States) will be on hand along with
IV-Groep, from Holland; whereas the Heerema
group, also Dutch, will have to do with
floodgates.
The timetable states building locks in one
thousand 884 days, with full investment
reaching around three thousand 200 million
dollars.
Rules foresee that per each day ahead of
schedule, the Panama Canal's Authority will
offer the consortium a 215- thousand- dollar
bonus, up to a 50- million-dollar top.
Contrariwise, one day behind in respect to
delivery date means paying 300 thousand
dollars, with the highest limit of penalty
at 54,6 million dollars.
The new locks, essential to a way along
which nearly five percent of world trade is
undertaken, will allow to handle ships of
the Postpanamax type, with 49 meter wide
maximum dimensions, 366 meters in length and
up to 15 meters in draft.
That is why, their measures are in keeping
with that objective, and they will be 427
meters long, 55 meters wide and 18.3 meters
deep, with 40 percent increase of navigable
surface as compared to current floodgates.
For executives of the PCA, enlarging the
Canal will allow the country to receive, by
2025, revenues close to six thousand million
dollars, as tonnage of ships in transit will
be twice as much.
As a comparison, in 2009 fiscal exercise
ending last September, the maritime way's
total incomes surpassed two thousand million
dollars one more time.
In spite of adverse effects caused by the
crisis, incomes by concept of toll reached
one thousand 438 million dollars in that
period, thus increasing 120 million in
respect to the previous period, added to
resources stemming from other actions done
at the canal.
The most noteworthy fact was that such
figure was achieved in spite of the
reduction of ships that sailed across the
way: 14 thousand 431 vessels versus 14
thousand 702 in the preceding period.
Global tonnage also diminished 3,4 percent
as it moved from 309.6 million to 299.1
million, with 5.1 percent contraction of
container ships in transit.
The enlargement magnitude can be seen in
statistics, since 130 million cubic meters
of material are supposed to be dug taking
new locks into account as well as new
passages and dredging of the existing ones.
Furthermore, one million tons of cement,54
thousand of structural steel for floodgates
and valves, 250 thousand reinforced
steel,and almost 225 million liters of
diesel, among other essential items, have
been planned for use.
Internationally, the project has gotten
several acknowledgements because of its
design, such as the most recent one gotten
at the International Salon of Logistics (ISL),
held in Barcelona (Spain).
This time the jury regarded the canal as one
of the great all-time engineering wonders
and the most important infrastructural work
in Latin America.
Along with that, Panamanian management of
the Canal for one decade, with contributions
to Home Treasury outdoing 4.5 billion
dollars, shows the local experts'capacity
for handling this important economic
mechanism.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
