MARLTON, N.J. and PANAMA CITY, Panama -- Hill International, the global leader in managing construction risk, announced today that it has been awarded a contract from the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) to provide project oversight services for the Panama Canal Expansion Program. The Panama Canal is a 50-mile long, three-step lock waterway, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the Isthmus of Panama. The Panama Canal Expansion Program entails building a third lane of traffic along the waterway through the construction of a new set of locks and other navigation channel improvements. The expansion, which is estimated to cost $5.25 billion and is scheduled to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2014, will double the Canal's capacity and allow more traffic, which in turn will spur economic growth and maintain the Canal's competitive advantage.

"We are extremely honored to have been selected by ACP to participate in this historic expansion program at the Panama Canal," said David L. Richter, Hill's President and Chief Operating Officer. ACP is the autonomous entity of the Government of Panama that has operated the Canal since December 31, 1999, following its transfer from the United States by virtue of the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977. For more information on ACP, please visit their website at www.pancanal.com.

Hill International, with 2,500 employees in 90 offices worldwide, provides program management, project management, construction management and construction claims and consulting services. Engineering News-Record magazine recently ranked Hill as the 8th largest construction management firm in the United States. For more information on Hill, please visit our website at www.hillintl.com.   

Mexican buildings supplies giant Cemex SAB says it has signed a contract to supply 500,000 tons of cement for the Panama Canal expansion project. The Monterrey, Mexico-based company says the cement will be destined for the construction of a third set of locks on the waterway. The company said it has invested about $300 million in its Panama operations over the last two years, and has tripled its cement production capacity there. Panama has embarked on a $5.25 billion project to expand the canal to allow the largest container ships to travel the waterway. The project is due for completion in 2014. (Business Week)   

A spokesman for the GUPC consortium handling the main contract for the expansion of the Panama Canal has told local media that last week's strike by workers has been lifted. According to a report by International Construction, GUPC head of human resources, Edgar Ochomovo told local reporters that the dispute over pay and conditions had been resolved thanks to government mediation and direct negotiations with workers. Wages are being kept at the US$ 2.90 per hour minimum originally agreed in a collective bargaining agreement, but the two sides are understood to have settled on better working conditions. The successful round of talks appears to have taken place without the participation of the Sindicato Único Nacional de Trabajadores de la Industria de la Construcción y Similares (SUNTRACS) construction union, which met twice with the consortium last week, but failed to settle on a deal. SUNTRACS secretary general Genaro Lopez was quoted in local media as saying he was not aware that the strike had been lifted.

The GUPC consortium comprises Italy's Impregilo, Spain's Sacyr, Belgian dredging specialist Jan de Nul and Panamanian contractor Constructora Urbana. The US$ 3.32 billion contract to construct two new flights of locks - one on the Atlantic side and one on the Pacific - was awarded last July by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP). (www.sandandgravel.com)   

By Chris Sleight - Work on the expansion of the Panama Canal has stalled due to the death of a worker and strikes by 700 others seeking pay rises and better working conditions. The disruption came just days after the dignitaries from Panama, Italy and Spain officially inaugurated the expansion project. The expansion work is being carried out by the GUPC consortium led by Italy's Impregilo and including Spain's Sacyr, Belgian dredging specialist Jan de Nul and Panamanian contractor Constructora Urbana. The US$ 3.32 billion contract to construct two new flights of locks - one on the Atlantic side and one on the Pacific - was awarded last July by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP). That worker that died is reported to be a 49 year-old who was killed while working on Jan de Nul's 'Marco Polo' dredger on Lake Gatún, on the Atlantic side of the canal. A spokesperson for Jan de Nul refused to comment on the reports.

Meanwhile between 500 and 700 workers have gone on strike to protest against low pay, poor working conditions and safety standards. Local reports say some 28 of these, all members of the SUNTRACS construction workers' union, have been arrested, although it is not clear on what charges. June 30 saw Panamanian Prime Minister Ricardo Martinelli host a ceremony to mark the start of GUPC's work on the project. Guests included Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Spanish Deputy Premier Manuel Chaves, and the disruption to work so soon after this ceremony is proving to be an embarrassment to the Panamanian government. (www.khl.com)   

As reported yesterday, the Taiwan-based Evergreen Group has placed the first of its long awaited newbuilding orders with Samsung Heavy Industries and the order is the first concluded for Evergreen account since 2004. The Korean yard will build ten 8,000 TEU ‘L’ class vessels at a cost of $103 million each and will be delivered in 2012-2013, with the last unit scheduled for November 2013. Six of the new vessels are to be built for Evergreen Marine Corp (EMC - the Taiwan listed arm of Evergreen) and four for Evergreen International S.A. (Panama).

The newbuildings will have overall length of 334.8m, a beam of 45.8m and a cruising speed of 24.5 knots and will be the largest vessels in the Evergreen-owned fleet. Although the company declares the vessels’ capacity at 8,000 TEU, the dimensions suggest that the real capacity could be some 20% higher. The ‘L’ class ships will be one row wider than those of Evergreen’s existing 8,073 TEU ‘C’class design, which come with a 42.8m beam. The ‘C’ class ships were built in 2005-2006 and are long term chartered from German owner Conti Reederei.

Evergreen said that “the ten ships are the beginning of a programme of a new generation of container vessels that will be ordered by Evergreen Line from several shipbuilding yards in Asia.” This programme could include up to 92 ships for over 500,000 TEU. Further orders are expected to be placed at STX Shipbuilding and CSBC shortly. STX Shipbuilding had announced last week that it has signed a Letter of Intent in June for a containership order with an unidentified Taiwanese carrier.

The present order at Samsung is the first time that Evergreen has ordered ships directly for its own account at a Korean yard. Until now, all of Evergreen’s vessel series have been built in either Japan or Taiwan. (motorship.com)

Editor's Comment: These are the kinds of ships that will regularly be navigating through the newly expanded Panama Canal once work is completed in August 2014. The new locks of the expanded Panama Canal, measuring 426.72 meters long by 54.86 meters wide and 18.29 meters deep, will be able to easily accommodate these new Evergreen vessels. After the expansion is completed the Panama Canal Authority says they expect revenues from the canal to jump to more than $5 billion dollars per year. They expect annual operating costs to be about $3 billion per year, with the Panama Canal generating about $2 billion in profits which will be turned over to the government of Panama to be spent on social and infrastructure projects. Most of the money spent on annual operations - $3 billion dollars per year - also stays in the local economy, spent on things such as labor, services, materials, fuel, etc. So, the Panama Canal currently brings in about $2 billion in revenues, which will increase substantially once ships like this start paying to go through, carrying almost 10,000 TEU's each. And how do you say "expanded Panama Canal" in Chinese?" Ka'ching!   

By Inti Landauro - BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--Cementos Argos SA (CEMARGOS.BO), Colombia's largest cement maker, signed a contract to sell $65 million worth of cement and other supplies to the group expanding the Panama Canal. The company will start to supply the group building a new set of locks on the Panama Canal in December and will keep on supplying until the first quarter of 2014, Cementos Argos said Tuesday in a statement. The company's Panamanian unit will manufacture the cement for the canal, though Argos's plant located in the Caribbean port of Cartagena will back up the Panama operations if needed. Over the past five years, Cementos Argos has invested $100 million in Panama to upgrade its operations there. A consortium made up of Sacyr Vallehermoso SA (SYV.MC), Italy's Impregilo SpA (IPG.MI) and other partners last year won the contract to build a new set of locks in the canal for $3.12 billion. The expansion is due to be ready in 2014 and will double the capacity of the Panama Canal. Shares of Cementos Argos were up 1.4% to 11,480 Colombian pesos ($6.11) in recent trading.   

(IANS/EFE) Expansion work on a third set of locks on the Panama Canal has officially begun. 'Today, a new future begins for the country,' said Panama President Ricardo Martinelli Wednesday at a ceremony jointly presided over by Martinelli, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Spanish Deputy Premier Manuel Chaves. The function was also attended by the presidents of Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras. The project is being carried out by Grupo Unidos por el Canal, a consortium led by Spain's Sacyr Vallehermoso construction company. The canal, designed in 1904 for ships with a 267-metre length and 28-meter beam, is too small to handle the 'post-Panamax' ships that are three times as big, making it necessary to expand by building the new set of locks. The Panama Canal Authority, a government agency that manages the waterway, wants to double transit capacity. The 80-km canal, which currently handles about five percent of world trade, has been under Panamanian management since Dec 31, 1999, when the US surrendered it in keeping with the 1977 Torrijos-Carter treaties.

Editor's Comment: This contract was for $3.2 billion dollars, the largest single contract of the Panama Canal expansion project. The money will be spent over the next four years, starting yesterday and ending by the summer of 2014 - for the projected opening of the expanded Panama Canal. Economically speaking this project is a wonderful thing for the Republic of Panama in so many ways. The vast majority of the money being spent on this project will remain right here and this contract is a great example. The Consortium will have to pay for manpower, equipment purchase or rental, services, materials, concrete, steel, cables, fuel - you name it. Of course the companies themselves will be making a profit and taking some of that home with them. However most of the money will stay right here in Panama to circulate through the national economy dozens of times before it eventually ends up in someone's savings account. And once the expansion is complete, the capacity of the Panama Canal will be doubled. So will it's revenue and profits. Can I get a "ka-ching" ...   

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announced today that Dredging International N.V. has been awarded the contract to dredge an area of the Panama Canal's manmade body of water, Gatun Lake. The dredging project is another integral element of the canal's expansion program. After a thorough review of the lowest priced proposal, the ACP awarded the contract to Dredging International N.V. for $39,983,822.82. Listed below are the companies that submitted bids June 1 with their corresponding bid prices in U.S. dollars. Dredging International N.V. - $39,983,822.82 China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) - $67,377,423.00 Boskalis International - $85,500,207.49 Great Lakes Dredge & Dock - $72,392,354.34 Van Oord - $97,998.256.97 Jan De Nul - $57,856,939.00

"We are pleased with the competition for this contract for which several premier dredging firms from around the world submitted proposals," said ACP Executive Vice President of Engineering and Program Management Jorge L. Quijano. "The ACP has partnered with Dredging International N.V. in the past and we are confident in its proven expertise to deliver this important component of the Expansion Program. Not only has the ACP benefited from a competitive price that is within the estimated budget, but it is also assured of an effective, high quality execution."

The primary element within the scope of work for this contract is to widen and deepen the existing navigational channel by dredging approximately 4.6 million cubic meters in the northern most reaches of the Lake. This contract is one component within the ACP's Fresh Water Dredging and Excavation Project for the Canal Expansion, which includes the dredging and/or excavation of about 30 million cubic meters in Gatun Lake and the Gaillard Cut (the narrowest stretch of the Panama Canal).

Expansion will build a new lane of traffic along the Panama Canal through the construction of a new set of locks which will double capacity and allow more traffic and longer, wider ships.   

The consortium led by the Spanish construction company Sacyr Vallehermoso - which also includes the Italian company Impregilo, the Belgian company Jan de Nul, and the Panamanian company Cusa - said they would complete the excavation work they have been contracted to do in early 2012, one year ahead of schedule. Despite the acceleration in the excavation phase of the project, the entire project will only be completed a few weeks prior to the date stipulated in the contract, 21 October 2014, so that the inauguration coincides with the 100th anniversary of the commissioning of the original Panama Canal, on 15 August 2014. The good pace of work being maintained on the part of the project to construct the third set of locks is the most news in this project whose main difficulty is not from bad weather, as one might expect in a country where the rainy season lasts from eight to nine months. In fact, calculations by contractors led by Sacyr predict work will be slowed by some 50% but only during days of the most intense rainfall.

"The paperwork, that's the main problem we have encountered so far," said the director of the Grupo Unidos Por El Canal (GUPC), Antonio Zaffaroni, referring to the immense bureaucracy the consortium has to face day to day. Of the $3.198 billion dollars ($2.665 billion Euros) that the consortium will earn for building their part of the project, they have already received an advance of $300 million dollars ($250 million Euros) which was spent on the acquisition of machinery to start work. They will soon receive a second advance, of the three agreed to in the contract, of $100 million dollars (83 million Euros), for the acquisition of electromechanical equipment, while for work accomplished they have only charged $30 million dollars (25 million Euros). The budget for the project is closed, but the consortium could earn up to a maximum of 50 million dollars (42 million euros) paid at a rate of $215,000 per day, if they deliver the project ahead of schedule. However, the penalty is higher if the delivery is delayed - they will have to pay a fine of $300,000 per day up to a total of $54.6 million dollars.

So far, the group expects to be able to remove about 40 million cubic meters of earth, and they now think they will be able to do that in about two years as compared to the three originally planned, allowing for less overlap with the concrete pouring stage, which is more complicated that will take nearly two years. In parallel with the excavations, which began in February this year, they are building ancillary facilities that include an aggregate crushing plant to make concrete, which will be produced in another plant. The aggregates will come from the excavated rock on the Pacific side, because the rocks on the Atlantic side are sandy and are no good for this purpose, and right now the contract to deliver cement still has not been signed, although they are negotiating with both Cemex and Cemento Panama.

The two new systems of locks, which constitute the third set of locks for the Panama Canal, will be built on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides, and will have three chambers each, separated by four blocks of two huge gates each. The expansion, which during the peak of the project will employ about 8,000 construction workers, 90% of that labor local, will allow for the passage of vessels of greater size and depth, while the faster filling and emptying of the chambers will facilitate passage of up to 28 ships per day.   Click Here To Read The Full Article (1 words)

The Belgian consortium Dredging International presented the lowest bid yesterday for the contract to dredge a part of Gatun Lake, which supplies water to the Panama Canal, as part of the program to expand the waterway, according to an official source. The consortium made a bid of $39.9 million dollars, beating another Belgian company Jan De Nul ($57.8 million), the China Harbour Engineering Company ($67.3 million) and from the Netherlands Boskalis International ($85.5 million), from the US the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock ($72.3 million) and from the Netherlands Van Oord ($97.9 million). The Vice President of Projects for the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), Jorge L. Quijano, told reporters they would begin a technical and financial analysis of the proposals, as well as the requirements stated in the tender specifications, before finally awarding the contract set by the lowest bidder. "The project to dredge Gatun Lake is vital to ensure the passage of huge vessels to the new locks on the Atlantic, so we expect to award the contract to the winning firm within the next few weeks," he said. The main element in the scope of work for this contract consists of widening and deepening the existing navigation channel through the dredging of approximately 4.6 million cubic meters along the edges of the existing channel, in the extreme Northern end of the lake. This will allow for the passage of larger vessels, such as post-Panamax, through the Gatun locks as well as the new larger locks that are being built. The Canal expansion program, which ends in 2014, with an estimated cost of $5.25 billion dollars, will increase the annual capacity of the Panama Canal from 300 million tons to 600 million tons of cargo per year. (Telemetro)   

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) and Jacksonville Port Authority have launched a strategic partnership with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). As part of the MOU, ACP and Jacksonville will conduct a series of joint activities. Specific areas of focus include marketing, research and data interchange, technical advancements and personnel training programs. The port’s connection with the Panama Canal at present stands at more than 600 annual calls. The port said it regarded the opening of the new locks as the beginning of a profound transformation in US cargo patterns, and said it will be ready for the completion of the new locks and a dramatic increase of canal cargo volume. (portstrategy.com)

Editor's Comment: Everyone from the Gulf of Mexico to the Eastern Seaboard of the United States is getting "twitchy" over the implications of the impending expansion of the Panama Canal. Traditionally, most cargo from Asia came into West coast ports on huge container ships, and then was moved via rail and truck into the middle of the country. Only smaller container ships that could pass through the Panama Canal would call on ports such as Houston, Tampa, and Jacksonville. As this article indicates, the expansion of the Panama Canal will create a "profound transformation in US cargo patterns" and everyone is maneuvering to try to position themselves to be in the best position to take advantage of the newly emerging paradigm. Last week I got a telephone call from a guy who ships tons of cotton from Texas every year, and they were lobbying to have Houston established as one of five collection points for overseas shipping, due to the impending expansion of the Panama Canal. From a strategic point of view, West Coast ports will see less traffic and Gulf and East coast ports will see more. The shippers will figure out the most efficient and least expensive routes, and use those. And of course all of this is great news for Panama, because all that new traffic will paying tolls here. Ka-ching! In the photo - the Emma Maersk - the largest container ship in the world, capable of carrying 15,200 "twenty foot equivalent units" or TEU's. This ship can carry more than three times as much cargo as the current "Panamax" ships - and it will be able to pass through the newly expanded Panama Canal after August 2014. Now, the ports in the Gulf and on the Eastern seaboard are scrambling to dredge their access channels, upgrade port facilities, install new cranes, etc.   

BIRMINGHAM BUSINESS JOURNAL - BY Jimmy DeButts STAFF - The Alabama State Port Authority has been named the ninth largest port in the nation in terms of tonnage and officials are hoping to expand trade with an agreement with Panamanian businesses. Alabama State Port Authority Director James Lyons is scheduled to meet Panamanian business leaders Tuesday to address boosting trading operations with the Central American nation. Lyons is scheduled to meet with top officials at the Panama Canal Authority, according to a news release. On Wednesday, ASPA and the ACP are scheduled to sign their first Memorandum of Understanding to expand opportunities along the “All-Water Route” between Alabama and Asia, the release said. The Panama Canal is currently undergoing an expansion to double the waterway’s capacity and allow more ship traffic. Panama’s improvements on its canal served as one of the catalysts for capital investments undertaken at Alabama’s only deep water seaport, the release said. In recent years, the ASPA completed a $300 million container terminal in partnership with APM Terminals North America, a subsidiary of Maersk, and CMA CGM. Work began last year on a new turning basin in the lower harbor that will allow for vessels is excess of 900 feet in length to access the port’s deeper draft terminals. A $112 million intermodal rail facility is also under construction in McCalla to capitalize on the port’s five Class I railroads. Under a deal with Norfolk Southern, containers will move into the proposed McCalla facility on an existing Norfolk Southern rail line that originates at the state’s port instead of along Interstate 65 via truck. (Birmingham Business Journal)

Editor's Comment: Practically every port on the Atlantic side of the US is licking its chops at the prospect of seeing additional ships and tonnage thanks to the expansion of the Panama Canal, mostly traffic from Asia that currently comes into the US through the existing major West coast ports. Practically every East coast port is looking at some kinds of plans for expansion, improving facilities, adding more cranes, and being able to handle larger ships with more cargo and containers. These port facilities have mostly evolved over the past 100 years to handle the ships they see - the smaller Panamax ships that could pass through the Panama Canal. Now, all bets are off and there is a sort of gold rush developing - competition between these ports to see which one will be in the best position to receive the lion's share of the new traffic. On the backside of the port will be expansions of trucking and rail facilities, all because there's new money to be made. Remember this is mostly a zero sum game - where one port facility gains another West coast facility will be cutting back and laying people off. The expanded Panama Canal doesn't necessarily mean there will be more trade and ship traffic, it will just change where those ships will dock in the US.   

By GRACE GAGLIANO - ggagliano@bradenton.com - SARASOTA — Water Treatment Warehouse is optimistic about future business opportunities in Panama. The expansion of the Panama Canal could allow the Sarasota County manufacturer to build on the estimated $500,000 in annual revenue it generates from Panamanian clients. “The goal here is trying to find ways to be more aggressive in the Latin American market,” said Ivan Garcia, international sales manager for Water Treatment Warehouse. Many regional business professionals shared that same goal Monday as at least 150 attended “Opportunity Panama,” a conference examining how the expansion of the Panama Canal may boost import/export business. Trade industry experts leading the conference at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota said they see major business growth looming for Port Manatee due to the expansion of the canal, expected to be completed in 2014. Bill Ralph, a transportation consultant and economist, projects the canal expansion will bring about 80 percent more cargo through the canal. Currently, the canal can support ships carrying 5,000 TEUs — or 20-foot equivalent units. The expansion will increase that capacity to ships carrying 12,500 TEUs. In addition, ports on the East Coast of the United States are expected to receive 31 percent of Asian exports, up from the 15 percent the ports received in 2000.

“This is really a trade opportunity that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world,” Ralph said. For Water Treatment Warehouse, a manufacturer of water treatment equipment, Garcia said the expansion is coming at a good time because the demand for its product is growing in Latin America. “The expansion of the canal is making exports and imports a little more flexible, which will allow us to do better service,” Garcia said. “There’s a huge need for clean water in Panama and Latin American countries and for the past three years we’ve been expanding our business opportunities in Panama.” Port Manatee, too, expects to build on its regional economic impact of more than $2.3 billion a year. The port will build a 52-acre container yard so it can handle more cargo. In addition, the port has reserved more than 3,500 acres of nearby land for port-related development.

Matt Gehman, director of ports and maritime for Manhard Consulting, said these efforts are among some advantages Port Manatee will have in competing with other southeast ports for the Panama-routed business. In comparison to ports in Charleston, Jacksonville, and New York/New Jersey, Gehman said Port Manatee ranks favorably in land available to expand its terminal, clearances vessels need to safely pass under bridges, nearby consumer population and its proximity to the Panama Canal. “It looks very encouraging for Port Manatee,” Gehman said. “I think these will be some of the major reasons you will find some conducting business and moving business here.”

Charles McSwain, a business consultant specializing in logistics and rail, attended the conference to hear about the business potential available in Manatee County. McSwain said he sees Port Manatee as a big player in the canal expansion because of the land it has available to develop. “The biggest opportunity in Manatee County is the large amount of land it has available for creating logistics opportunities,” McSwain said. “Other ports will be at a disadvantage because they are landlocked.”   

(AP) By David Bauerlein - The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville - The Jacksonville Port Authority will underscore its connection with the Panama Canal when it signs a marketing agreement this week with the Panama Canal Authority. JaxPort will not spend any additional money for marketing as a result of the agreement, spokeswoman Nancy Rubin said. But the partnership means Jacksonville will join some other East Coast and Gulf Coast ports that previously signed similar partnerships with the Panama Canal Authority. JaxPort Chief Executive Officer Rick Ferrin is traveling to Panama this week to sign the memorandum of understanding with Alberto Zubieta, CEO for the Panama Canal Authority. Ferrin said Jacksonville will be "in the hunt" for its share of the additional cargo that will go through the canal after the current expansion project is finished around 2016. ''We've got to do whatever we can to distinguish ourselves from the rest of the pack," he said today.

The memorandum of understanding will commit JaxPort and the Panama Canal Authority to join forces in marketing the advantages of shipping cargo between Asia and the East Coast via the canal. Currently, the biggest cargo ships that travel from Asia to the West Coast cannot fit through the canal, but the enlargement will let those ships travel through to the eastern side of the country. The agreement also calls for JaxPort and the canal authority to share trade data and market studies that would help each gain business from the bigger canal. The Panama Canal Authority has signed similar agreements with some other ports on the East Coast and Gulf Coast, including Tampa Port Authority in 2005 and Georgia Ports Authority in 2003.

Editor's Comment: The largest ports on the Western, Pacific coast of the United States will undoubtedly lose some of their market share once the greatly expanded Panama Canal commences operations in 2014. Larger container ships from Asia that before could not fit through the Panama Canal would use ports such as Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, Portland, Seattle, and Tacoma. Their cargo was then taken to the rest of the country either by rail or truck. However, the cheapest way to move cargo is still by boat, so now these huge container ships carrying 15,000 TEU or more will be able to pass through the greatly expanded Panama Canal. Before, Panamax vessels were those with a maximum length of 965 ft (294.13 m), a maximum beam (width) of 106 ft (32.31 m), and a maximum draft of 39.5 ft (12.04 m) in tropical fresh water, height of 190 ft (57.91 m) measured from the waterline to the vessel's highest point. After the expansion is completed, all of these vessels listed as the largest container ships in the world that could not pass through, all of a sudden will have the Panama route as an option where it didn't exist before. So, instead of having to put in a Long Beach or what have you, they can steam straight to Houston or Tampa or Baltimore or Jacksonville, straight from Asia. There will be winners in this new trade, as well as losers. I imagine that some jobs will be lost at West Coast ports, while new ones will be created at East Coast ports. And of course it's all good news for Panama, because the Canal will be seeing new customers and business that they could never handle before.   

By Steve Clark for The Brownsville Herald - The most ambitious expansion of the Panama Canal in its history is under way, and the Port of Brownsville could benefit — at least indirectly. Work to add a third set of locks to the canal system and widen and deepen its existing navigation channels began in 2007 and should be complete in 2014, doubling the canal’s capacity. Eduardo Campirano, Brownsville port director and CEO, said the improvements will allow the canal to accommodate container vessels of 12,000 to 14,000 TEUs (TEU stands for 20-foot equivalent unit) compared to approximately 6,000 TEUs today. One TEU is the size of a standard cargo container, used to ship everything from car parts to DVDs to teddy bears. Cargo traffic in the Gulf of Mexico is almost certain to grow, with a trickle-down effect likely to benefit the Port of Brownsville and other smaller Gulf ports, Campirano said, though it’s a little early to predict what form it will take.

“The expectation is that shipping activity is going to increase in the Gulf,” he said. “If that happens, then we all have a chance to benefit. But we all have to go after our niches and our markets. Part of that will be watching the market to see what it’s doing.” While the Port of Brownsville might catch some business by servicing feeder cargo lines that in turn serve bigger cargo operations, don’t expect to see an armada of mega-vessels suddenly appearing in the Brownsville ship channel, Campirano said. “We’re not going to be seeing 8,000 container vessels coming to the Port of Brownsville,” he said. “There are a handful of ports in the country that handle 80 percent of the container business. Probably that’s not going to change.”

Instead, the port will focus on assets such as its year-old, short-sea shipping service, which transports cargo inside containers on barges between Brownsville and Port Manatee, Fla. Demand is enough that SeaBridge Freight, which operates the service, is considering adding a second barge to the route, Campirano said. The port’s goal is to continue to diversify the cargo mix while finding ways to keep the containers full, not just en route to Florida but on the return trip as well.

“Most of the product is being hauled from Brownsville to Manatee as opposed to the other way around,” he said. “The key is: What can we bring back?”

Campirano concedes the container-on-barge service isn’t a huge moneymaker for the port. In fact, the Port of Brownsville — because it’s just now breaking into the container business — intentionally charges a lower container-handling fee compared to Houston and other large ports with established, thriving container operations. At the end of the day, though, it puts people to work, which is the important thing. “Where we make the money is more on the services that are offered: wharfage, stevedore services, using the facilities, agents, hauling, trucking, etc.,” Campirano said. “It keeps these guys busy. It keeps them employed.”   

The companies who will be building the expansion of the Panama Canal are about to kick of a recruitment drive to hire the necessary workforce. The project is expected to generate literally thousands of all different types of jobs. Specifically the "Grupo Unidos por el Canal" (Group United For The Canal) is one of the international consortiums involved in the project, and they have an open call for 7,000 workers. The different companies, working together with the Ministry of Labor, will organize and execute job fairs in Panamá, Chepo, Penonomé, Colón, Los Santos, Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí, Veraguas and La Chorrera to find and hire the employees they need. (La Estrella)

Editor's Comment: Some people say the expansion of the Panama Canal will have a "cost" of more than $5.25 billion dollars. I prefer to think that the government and these companies will "spend" that much money to get it done. Almost all of that money will be going right back into the Panamanian economy in one way or the other. That "booming" sound you hear is the economy. 2010 is going to be good, 2011 will be better. Those dumb asses in Washington should come down here and take some notes.    

By Edgar Sánchez - The Port of Limon in Costa Rica, one of the biggest produce hubs worldwide, is to be extended considerably in a move that could seriously increase the prospects of smaller producers in the country. The redevelopment, which is in response to the work being done to increase traffic in the Panama Canal, would see increased traffic and space at the central American port. Edgar Sánchez, deputy director of the EU department of Costa Rican foreign trade body Procomer, told freshinfo that the government has been working on a new model for a container terminal to complement the Panama Canal as more traffic goes through it. The model will be published in the next few months and then bid on in a private-public deal through 2010 and 2011, with the goal of being fully built by 2014. Sánchez said: “We hope there will be more capacity in the port and more on-time shipping. At the moment, the big companies dominate the port and it's not uncommon for the little guys to be pushed out of a ship because the big guys own them, so hopefully with more capacity more exports all round can come through the port." (Source: Freshinfo)   

By Alaric Nightingale (Bloomberg) -- Shipments of liquefied natural gas through the Panama Canal may climb once expansion work on the waterway is completed in 2014, TradeWinds reported, citing Silvia de Marucci, an official in the canal’s market research and analysis department. Once work is completed, 80 percent of liquefied natural gas carriers will be able to fit through the canal’s locks, up from 6 percent now, TradeWinds said. In practice, no such vessels presently use the link, de Marucci told the newspaper. Repsol YPF is interested in using the canal to ship LNG from Peru and Kitimat LNG Inc. is also considering using the waterway to sell Canadian cargoes to customers in the Atlantic, TradeWinds reported. The 80-kilometer (50-mile) canal, which connects the Pacific Ocean with the Caribbean Sea, is undergoing a $5.25 billion expansion.   

A delivery date has been established for the third set of locks being built as part of the massive program to expand the Panama Canal. The consortium Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC) has until midnight on 21 October 2014 to deliver this part of the project, valued at $3.118 billion dollars. The Panama Canal Authority published the final date in their thirteenth quarterly report on the progress of the contracts that have been let as part of the expansion program. To avoid cost overruns on the project the Panama Canal Authority has designated a $160 million dollar fund to cover potential price fluctuations for steel, cement, and fuel. So far 97% of the various contracts awarded by the Panama Canal Authority for the completion of the project have already been completed and delivered. Over the past three years the project to expand the Panama Canal has created 3,199 jobs for Panamanians. It is expected that between now and 2010 the project will have generated a total of 11,228 jobs. The phenomenon of "El Niño" - which will extend the summer dry season in Panama - will actually benefit the Panama Canal expansion project by delaying the torrential downpours typical of the Panamanian rainy season, which cause work delays. The GUPC group says they will start working to build the third set of locks 24 hours a day in March 2010. (Source: La Estrella)   

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) issued today, Friday, the order to proceed for the fourth and final dry excavation contract for the Pacific Access Channel (PAC-4). This contract is part of the program to expand the Panama Canal, with the total project valued at $5.25 billion dollars. The winning consortium submitted all required performance bonds for payment and insurance during the first ten days after the contract was awarded on 7 January 2010. Now, with this order to proceed, the consortium ICA-FCC-MECO has 1,288 calendar days to finish this important phase of the expansion project, which should conclude on or before 2 August 2013, according to a press release from the ACP. This channel, located on the West bank of the Canal between the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores locks, will complete the construction of a 6.1 kilometer long channel that will link the new third set of locks on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal to the Culebra Cut. This project also includes the excavation, removal and disposal of approximately 26 million cubic meters of material. The ACP awarded this contract to the consortium ICA-FCC-MECO, after the contractor submitted the lowest bid, complying with the requirements in the bid sheet. (Source: La Prensa)   

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - The Panama Canal Authority said on Thursday it awarded a $268 million excavation contract to a consortium including Mexico's ICA (ICA.MX), Spain's FCC (FCC.MC) and Costa Rica's Meco. The companies will help dig a channel connecting Panama's new Pacific locks with the narrowest part of the canal, the authority said in a statement. To make way for larger ships, Panama is spending $5.25 billion in the first major expansion of the canal since it was opened in 1914. A consortium led by Spain's Sacyr Vallehermoso (SVO.MC) and Italy's Impregilo (IPGI.MI) were the low bidders for the main contract in the expansion program in July. The expansion of the canal, which currently handles 5 percent of global trade, is due to be completed in 2014. (Reporting by Sean Mattson, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)   

By C.J. Schexnayder - A construction consortium from Spain, Mexico and Costa Rica has outbid three other competitors for the second-largest contract awarded in the Panama Canal’s $5.2-billion Third Lane Expansion effort, eclipsed only by the price tag for design and construction of the waterway’s new locks. Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, S.A. (FCC), along with Mexico’s Empresas ICA and Constructora MECO of Costa Rica, submitted a bid of $268 million for the fourth and final contract to construct a 6.7-kilometer-long access channel on the canal’s Pacific side. The three other bids for the contract were submitted by a team led by Panama City-based ISC Panamá bid, which bid $295 million; a consortium of Belgian dredging firm Jan de Nul and China’s CHEC, which bid $359 million and one from Brazilian contractor Odebrecht at $380 million. “We are very pleased to see that the competition among top construction companies has resulted in bids that are within the budget,” says Jorge L. Quijano, executive vice president of engineering and program management for the Panal Canal Authority, the quasi-governmental body that oversees the waterway. Officials will award the contract in early 2010 after analyzing technical and financial submissions. When completed in 2014, the Third Lane Expansion is expected to double the canal’s cargo capacity. The project not only will increase the number of vessels that can traverse its 80-kilometer-long length, but also permit passage of massive post-Panamax ships that the current locks are too small to accommodate. The Pacific Access channel is required to connect the Panama Canal’s existing navigation channel and new locks to be constructed on the waterway’s Pacific side.   

Telemetro Reporta - The Meco Consortium, formed by companies from Costa Rica, Spain and Mexico, won the fourth dry excavation contract for the Panama Canal, one of the largest parts of the program to expand the canal that will allow larger ships to use the waterway, according to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP). MECO bid $267.8 million dollars, or $27 million less than their closest competitor said the ACP. "Work should begin early next year and we calculate it should end in 2013," said the head of the ACP, German Alberto Zubieta, at the event were the envelopes containing the proposals were opened. The MECO Consortium consists of the companies Meco (Costa Rica), Ica (Mexico) and FCC (Spain), the ACP said. The contract for the fourth dry excavation "represents the most complex construction project after the new set of locks," said the Executive Vice President of Engineering and Program Management of the ACP, Jorge Luis Quijano. Among the other companies and groups bidding for the contract - the Brazilian company Odebrecht asked for $379.8 million dollars, the consortium ISC Panama proposed $294.9 million dollars, and the Jan de Nul-Chec group asked for $359.1 million dollars. The proposals were opened on Tuesday by the ACP, which in the next few days should award this contract in order to complete the expansion of the Canal in 2014, in time for the centennial of the opening of the waterway. The winning group will have to remove 27 million cubic meters of earth and rock to open a channel of just over six kilometers near the Pacific entrance of the canal. The expansion project, which will have a total cost of about $5.25 billion dollars, would allow for the passage of much larger ships through the Panama Canal, which already sees about 5% of all world trade. Meco is an established Costa Rican company specializing in earth moving, road building, and the construction of tourism infrastructure, which has worked throughout Central America since 1992.   

La Estrella - The Panama Canal Authority will announce tomorrow the winning bidder of the largest dry excavation work in the expansion of the waterway. The contract requires the digging of a new channel that will connect the new locks with the Culebra Cut, the narrowest stretch of the waterway, near the entrance to the Canal to the Pacific Ocean. This is the fourth contract that will be awarded for excavation as part of the project to expand the Panama Canal, and it is the second largest contract in terms of price or value, second only to the contract to build the new set of locks. The work includes the excavation, removal and disposal of about 27 million cubic meters of material, to open a dry riverbed 6.1 kilometers in length, in a contract estimated to be worth around $400 million dollars. ACP sources explained that because it was a bidding process and since there was no requirement for prequalification, it will not be known what companies are competing for the contract until the opening of the envelopes which will take place tomorrow at 18.00 GMT at the headquarters of the Panamanian government institution that manages the waterway. Some media outlets have claimed the Spanish company Sacyr Vallehermoso, along with the Italian company Impregilo and the Panamanian company CUSA aim to secure this contract, after winning last July. According to this information, also competing for this contract are the Spanish company Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC), together with the Mexican company ICA and the Costa Rican company MECO, a group which won the third dry excavation contract for $36.6 million dollars, the lowest bid. Sacyr, with Impregilo, CUSA and Holland's Jan de Nul was awarded in mid-July the primary job of the Panama Canal expansion project, the construction of a new lane of locks, a huge project costing $3.118 billion dollars. The canal was designed in 1904 for vessels measuring at most 267 meters long and 28 meters wide, and the Panama Canal is now too small to handle those vessels known as "post-Panamax" which far exceed the capabilities of the current canal, so the expansion of the canal was needed together with a new set of much larger locks. With this expansion project, which began in 2006, the ACP aims to double the traffic capacity of the canal, from 300 to 600 million tons annually.   

By Chris Baltimore LA PORTE, Texas (Reuters) - Warehouses holding everything from beer kegs to frozen chickens crowd the roadside along Highway 146 south of Houston, and a ferocious building boom is adding acres more, thanks to an even bigger project 1,800 miles away in Panama. A $5.25 billion plan to triple the Panama Canal's capacity finishes in 2014, opening the way to Houston for mega-sized cargo vessels that can't squeeze through the canal's current locks and don't want to steam around South America. The prospect of bigger ships, and more of them, could be a boon for the Port of Houston, which already handles more foreign tonnage than any other U.S. port. With an eye toward feeding the U.S. consumer's insatiable demand for Asian-made goods, U.S. retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Home Depot have built millions of square feet (hundreds of thousands of square meters) of warehouse space around Houston ports. "They're popping up every place," said Jimmy Jamison, director of operations at the Port of Houston Authority, referring to the warehouses. "If they wait until the Panama Canal expansion, that property won't be there." (more)    Click Here To Read The Full Article (670 words)

By Joseph Bonney for the Journal of Commerce - When people gather to talk about the Port of New York and New Jersey, conversation almost inevitably turns to the port authority-owned Bayonne Bridge. The span's 151-foot vertical clearance is too low to allow the new generation of container ships to take full advantage of what will be 50-foot-deep channels to Port Newark/Elizabeth by 2012 and to New York Container Terminal on Staten Island by 2014. Port Director Rick Larrabee, told an industry audience Thursday night that the agency is determined to solve the bridge problem, but that such a huge fiscal and policy decision deserves careful examination. The port authority has commissioned a $10 million study of alternatives. These range from spending $2 billion to $3 billion or more on a new bridge or tunnel to an intriguing idea to redesign the existing bridge into a "lift" span that would raise the roadway to provide ships with more headroom. The feasibility of the "lift" alternative remains undetermined, but Larrabee said that because it might be done within three years at one-tenth the cost of a bridge replacement. Larrabee said the idea will receive close examination in the current study. "During the next 12 months, we'll run that one to ground," he said. With the Panama Canal's widening only five or six years away, the industry is getting antsy. There's even some talk about trying to persuade the port authority to demolish the bridge and divert Bayonne-Staten Island traffic to other bridges. An economic argument could be made for demolition -- traffic on the existing span totals only 22,000 vehicles a day. But don't look for it to happen. Demolishing a perfectly sound bridge, even to clear a critical navigation impediment, would tough to sell politically.   

By CHRISTOPHER CONKEY for the Wall Street Journal - The deal, announced Friday, is essentially a 50-year lease between the Maryland Port Administration and Ports America Group, a company owned by Highstar Capital, a New York private-equity fund. In exchange for the right to operate Baltimore's cargo-container terminal for 50 years, Ports America will make an upfront payment of $100 million and a series of infrastructure improvements at the port. Chief among them: deepening the water at the cargo terminal to 50 feet from its current depth of 45 feet. The improvements will enable Baltimore to compete for the supersize cargo vessels that are expected to start passing through the Panama Canal after its expansion is complete in 2014 or so. The vessels are capable of carrying twice as many 40-foot containers as the cargo vessels that typically call on East and Gulf Coast ports. Other ports are considering similar expansions and hunting for the capital to get them done. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is examining a number of proposals to fix its biggest impediment to serving bigger cargo ships: a bridge that isn't high enough for the vessels to fit under. Port officials in Charleston, S.C., are studying plans to increase the depth of its water, which fluctuates by six feet along with tides. The port is also moving to develop its Navy Base Terminal, which would boost container capacity by 50% when finished.   Click Here To Read The Full Article (336 words)

La Estrella - The construction of the third set of locks for the expansion of the Panama Canal will begin in January 2010, said yesterday executive director of the consortium that won the bidding for the project, Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), Antonio Zaffaroni. "We are at the beginning and there are many bureaucratic procedures, presentations that have to be done, and permits to obtain. The real work starts in January. For now it's all preparation, removal of animals, cutting trees..." said the official from the GUPC consortium, led by Spanish company Sacyr Vallehermoso. Zaffaroni said the first phase of the work will be the excavation, after having established "the facilities to produce concrete, crushed stone, cement and equipment to unload the arriving supplies." GUPC won the contract to build the third set of locks in mid-July for $3.1 billion dollars. Regarding the concerns raised over the difficulty of getting the job done at that price, Zaffaroni said "at present" there is "nothing alarming." "The budget is lower due to better technical skills, because having studied the project well it will cost less because we have optimized transportation cycles and construction methods," he said. The international consortium, which also includes the Italian company Impregilo, Belgium's Jan de Nul and the Panamanian Constructora Urbana (CUSA) has 1,883 days (about five years and 2 months) to complete the work, and time began to count on 25 August 2009. According to this calculation, if the consortium uses all of the time allowed by the Panama Canal Authority, the work would not be ready for August 15, 2014, when the government wants to inaugurate the new set of locks in time for the 100th Anniversary of the opening of the original canal.   

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- L.B. Foster Company of Pittsburgh, PA has been awarded a $20.5 million contract to supply Gerdau Ameristeel sheet piling to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) for use in the construction of the Panama Canal Expansion. The successful bidder for the PAC-4 contract opening later this year will install the piling for the excavation of the Pacific Access Channel and the construction of the Borinquen Dam. Gerdau Ameristeel's PS 31 flat steel sheets will be delivered in lengths of 56 ft. to 69 ft. Also, their PZC(TM) 26 Z-type sheet piling will be delivered in 49 ft. lengths. "ACP is acting independently of the contractor in this purchase to minimize costs and pre-stage the material for a 1Q 2010 start of the PAC-4 construction contract," said Jim Wiehage, Houston/International Sales Manager for the Construction Products Group within L.B. Foster Company. "As with other Gerdau deliveries to international locations, the sophisticated logistics required for the shipment of $20 million of piling from mid-state Virginia and Texas to the middle of Panama are considerable," noted David Maedgen, Gerdau Ameristeel Piling Sales Manager. Gerdau Ameristeel and L.B. Foster teamed to assure the client that the piling will move expeditiously by rail and truck to US ports, by ship to an Atlantic terminal near Colon, Panama and then by trucks to the jobsite. The first delivery is scheduled for October 2009 with 3 additional shipments of equal size completing transit by the end of January 2010. "L.B. Foster is proud to join with Gerdau Ameristeel to supply construction materials for such a monumental effort and to participate together in this historic project," said Don Foster, Senior Vice President of L.B. Foster's Construction Products Group. The Pacific Access Channel and the Borinquen Dam will be integral parts of the Panama Canal Expansion and provide navigation access to the Gaillard Cut via the new Pacific Post-Panama Locks. The completed canal project will allow ultra-large intermodal ships traveling from Asia to continue by sea to the US East Coast, rather than unloading containers on the West Coast and continuing freight by rail or truck across the United States.   

By Peter T. Leach for the Journal of Commerce Online - Key expansion project to help create expanded Panama Canal. The Panama Canal Authority said Thursday it has received bids from a number of global engineering and construction firms for the contract to dredge the Atlantic entrance to the canal. The Atlantic entrance dredging project is part of the Canal’s $5.25 billion expansion program to ensure larger, wider ships can reach the new locks. This includes lowering the canal bottom to 15.5 meters below mean low water, dredging approximately 14.8 million cubic meters and conducting the dry excavation of 800 thousand cubic meters. The area to be dredged on the Atlantic entrance extends approximately 13.8 kilometers, and the scope of work also includes widening the existing Atlantic entrance channel from 198 meters to a minimum of 225 meters and the north approach channel to a minimum of 218 meters. The canal authority released its request for proposals for the Atlantic entrance dredging on Feb. 27. Subsequently, several bidders attended site visits and a pre-tender meeting held from April through July, which were hosted by the canal authority and provided pertinent details on the project. The canal authority said it will now conduct a careful review of the bids before awarding the contract in the coming weeks to the lowest bidder that complies with all the contract requirements. The Atlantic entrance dredging is one of several key expansion projects that will help create an expanded Panama Canal. Other major projects are also pending. The largest and most important is the design and construction of the new set of locks. The canal authority also plans to dredge the Pacific sea entrance, and four dry excavation projects will ultimately form a new Pacific access channel to the new locks. So far, plans remain on time and on budget. The canal authority expects the expansion program to be complete by 2014.