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Welcome to Panama Guide, anonymous Panama-Guide Top Level Category - The Expansion of the Panama CanalOn 22 October 2006 the citizens of Panama voted to expand the Panama Canal to allow for more transits and bigger ships. The Panama Canal Authority has started to execute the project and is following a comprehensive plan that will take eight years to complete at a cost of $5.25 billion dollars. While this is a subject of tremendous importance to the Republic of Panama and its people, the international maritime industry will benefit directly from the expansion through lower shipping costs, and global consumers will eventually benefit from the greater capacity and efficiency of the Panama Canal. The articles in this section document the details of the construction of the Panama Canal expansion project as it is executed. Articles are added to with the most recent information on top, and older articles get pushed toward down as new material is added. If you require additional information about this or any other category of information regarding the Republic of Panama please take advantage of our powerful in-house search engine. And if you still can't find what you're looking for we even take requests! Welcome aboard, and please remember to tell your friends about Panama-Guide.com, the #1 English Language Website about the Republic of Panama. Salud.
The Panama Canal Will See More Liquefied Natural Gas Tankers
Delivery Date Established for New Panama Canal Locks
Making A Survey To Expand the Panama Canal
ACP Issues Order to Proceed on Dry Excavation Contract 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 awards $268 million canal digging contractPANAMA 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)
Spanish-Mexican-Costa Rican Team Submits Low Bid for Second Biggest Panama Canal Contract
Rendered photo illustrates dam structure (center in green) that will be built because of water level differences of the new channel
Meco Consortium Wins Panama Canal ContractTelemetro 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.
ACP Will Announce Winner of Second Largest Canal Expansion Contract Today
Ships In The Panama Canal
Houston Eyes Asia Trade as Panama Canal ExpandsBy 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)
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A Bridge Too Near 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.
Investor to Help Baltimore Port Prepare for Bigger ShipsBy 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)
Construction of New Locks for Panama Canal Expansion Will Begin in 2010La 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 Company to Supply Gerdau Ameristeel Sheet Piling for Panama Canal ExpansionPITTSBURGH, 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.
Panama Canal Gets Bids to Dredge Atlantic EntranceBy 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.
ACP Delivers Orders To Proceed on New Locks Construction By WILFREDO S. JORDAN S. for La Prensa - The last step of the bidding process for the design and construction of the third set of locks was reached yesterday when the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) gave the order to proceed to the Grupo Unidos Por El Canal (GUPC). GUPC, led by the Spanish company Sacyr Vallehermoso, should begin work on August 25, 2009. After that date, the consortium has 1,883 days to deliver the new locks, in mid-2014. The consortium was awarded the contract to construct the third set of locks on July 15, for having the best technical expertise and the lowest price: $ 3.118 billion dollars. The ACP issued the order to proceed after completing the period specified in the project's schedule to start work, which included a review of the technical documentation and the qualifications of the various bids submitted. Based on this review, the consortium that came in second and offered a bid of $4.185 billion, Bechtel, Taisei, Mitsubishi Corporation, sent a note to the Minister for Canal Affairs Romulo Roux, warning about some technical shortcomings of the GUPC proposal. The CANAL consortium, which offered $5.981 billion, also sent a note to the ACP warning of an earthquake risk in the conceptual design of GUPC. Click Here To Read The Full Article (288 words)
Port Everglades reaches accord with Panama CanalBy Bob Luder for The Packer - Port Everglades, Broward County, Fla., signed a memorandum of understanding with the Panama Canal Authority Aug. 4 which it hopes will promote greater maritime trade and encourage new business between the organizations. Both organizations currently are undergoing expansion of their facilities, making this new agreement timely as well as practical. Port Everglades is working toward increasing capacity to handle larger ships that will pass through the Panama Canal after its expansion project is completed in 2014, according to a news release from Port Everglades. The canal expansion project will build a new lane of traffic along the canal through a new set of locks, doubling capacity and allowing the passage of longer, wider ships. The Port Everglades expansion is part of a comprehensive five-year capital improvement plan and 10- and 20-year vision plans estimated to cost $2 billion over the next 20 years, according to the release. Port Everglades director Phillip Allen said in the release that ports up and down the East Coast, especially those in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia, will be faced with expanding ship berths and ensuring adequate harbor depth as larger ships become the norm after the canal expansion. “Today’s signing of a memorandum of understanding between Port Everglades and the Panama Canal Authority marks our strong commercial and economic bonds and further strengthens it with an alliance for information sharing and collaboration,” Allen said in the release. “It will provide the framework to work together in a series of activities promoting both the canal and the port.” Port Everglades’ trade through the Panama Canal with the Far East and west coast of South America reached 909,893 short tons in 2008, 15% of the port’s container cargo throughput. (See Comments) Click Here To Read The Full Article (104 words)
For Panama Canal, a new era of trade is coming By David J. Lynch, USA TODAY - PANAMA CITY — Under leaden skies, mammoth yellow vehicles prowl an enormous gash in the earth. Excavators, bulldozers and loaders relentlessly carve the rippled black and brown ground, reshaping nature's handiwork. There's no sense of drama or romance or history. Nothing to suggest this sprawling site is anything special. But these workers are trying to improve upon one of the great engineering feats of history: the Panama Canal. On the other side of a nearby rise, the refrigerated cargo ship Cape Town Star, hauling fruit from Ecuador to Russia, is easing through the canal's almost century-old Miraflores Locks. Now, under a $5.25 billion project, the canal authority is adding a third lane to the ocean-spanning waterway that will double its capacity and allow access to the world's largest cargo-carrying vessels. "We are eliminating the restrictions the canal has imposed on the maritime industry. … The capability you have here, you have nowhere else in the world," says Alberto Aleman, the canal authority administrator. (more) Click Here To Read The Full Article (1,464 words)
"United For The Canal" Must Present $450 Million Performance Bond By Carlos Estrada Aguilar for La Critica - The group "United for the Canal" has to deliver a performance bond worth $450 million dollars to guarantee the work they will do after having won the public bid to build the third set of locks as part of the project to expand the Panama Canal. Once they deliver this bond then the contract will be signed and they will be given the order to proceed. The consortium submitted a bid for $3.118 billion dollars, and the work must be completed in 1,883 days or about 269 weeks. If they run over the alloted time the company will have to pay $300,000 dollars per day or a maximum of $54.6 million dollars in penalties. Thus far the project to expand the Panama Canal has created 2,500 direct jobs according to the Administrator of the Panama Canal Authority Alberto Alemán Zubieta in a report to the Deputies of the National Assembly who sit on the Canal Affairs Committee. Alemán Zubieta said 2011 will be the "peak period" of the project, and at that time they expect the project will generate more than 7,000 jobs. Alemán Zubieta said as work progresses on the areas of the Pacific and Atlantic sides of the waterway where excavation work is being conducted, more workers will be added to the widening project and there will be a significant impact on growth in the construction sector. The chairman of the Canal Affairs Committee, Luis Eduardo Quirós, recalled that when the expansion project was approved it was established that the Minister of Canal Affairs and the Administrator of the ACP should present a quarterly report detailing the progress of the work to ensure the transparency of the project. The Minister for Canal Affairs Romulo Roux was also present at the National Assembly. (See Comments) Click Here To Read The Full Article (380 words)
Panama Canal expansion to boost tradeBy Adeline Teoh (dynamicexport.com.au) - Trade between Asia and North America will benefit from the expansion of the Panama Canal after canal authorities nominated a bid by a Spanish-Italian consortium as the frontrunner to be awarded the expansion contract. The Panama Canal Authority will assess the consortium’s US$3.12 billion bid, led by Spain’s Sacyr Vallehermoso and Italy’s Impregilo, for technical issues before confirming the deal. The consortium beat two rival consortiums for the contract. Presenting significant savings and a sound technical front, the group was said to have the ‘best value’ bid, which will see canal capacity double to accommodate newer, wider ships. “This event marks a critical milestone for the Panama Canal Authority and Panama,” said Alberto Aleman Zubieta, CEO of the Panama Canal Authority. “We look forward to awarding the contract in the coming days.” The canal sees about five percent of the world’s cargo, mostly trade between Asia and the east coast of the USA.
Sacyr Vallehermoso climbs on Panama Canal winBy Steve Goldstein LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Spain's Sacyr Vallehermoso (ES:SYV 10.69, +1.01, +10.43%) rallied nearly 13% in Madrid after leading a winning consortium that included Impregilo (IT:IPG 2.38, -0.05, -1.96%) to build a new set of locks for the Panama Canal. The bid was $3.12 billion, which was lower than the bids from the competing groups. One rival consortium was led by Bechtel, and another included Actividades de Construccion y Servicios (ES:ACS 34.40, +0.19, +0.56%) , Acciona (ES:ANA 82.60, +0.35, +0.43%) , Fomento de Construcciones y Contratos (ES:FCC 27.10, +0.45, +1.69%) and Hochtief (DE:HOT 34.34, +0.72, +2.14%).
Impregilo shares higher after Panama newsMILAN, July 8 (Reuters) - Shares in Italian construction company Impregilo (IPGI.MI) rose over 3 percent after the Panama Canal Authority said the consortium led by Impregilo and Sacyr (SVO.MC) had submitted the lowest price bid for a contract to expand the canal. The authority said the consortium's bid was $3.12 billion while the authority's target price for the contract is $3.48 billion. (Reporting by Stephen Jewkes)
Bechtel financially fittest in Panama bid-analystsBy Danilo Masoni and Sean Mattson MILAN/PANAMA CITY, July 7 (Reuters) - A team led by U.S. group Bechtel is financially best placed to win the race for an estimated $3.3 billion contract to expand the Panama Canal, analysts said. The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) overseeing the bidding will open price bids on Wednesday but may take several weeks before announcing a winner. This $3.3 billion contract is the largest chunk of a $5.25 billion project to expand the canal. Bids were placed months before a presidential election brought into power millionaire supermarket magnate Ricardo Martinelli, bucking a trend of left-wing leadership victories in Latin America. The new president took office last Wednesday. The other two bidders are a consortium including Spanish giants ACS (ACS.MC), FCC (FCC.MC) and Acciona (ANA.MC), and a smaller group led by Sacyr (SVO.MC) of Spain and Impregilo (IPGI.MI) of Italy. The closely watched decision was initially expected before Martinelli took office. There has been speculation that bids could exceed Panama's budget and that the project could incur cost overruns. (more)
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ACP To Announce Winner of $3.35 Billion Dollar Contract This WeekBy DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - On Wednesday this week the Panama Canal Authority will announce the winning consortium for a contract to design and build the third set of locks for the expansion of the Panama Canal, the largest single contract of the project expected to be worth as much as $3.35 billion dollars. The new locks will be much larger than the existing locks and will allow for the passage of the world's largest vessels. In addition the design will incorporate elements to reuse the water in chambers, rather than simply flushing the millions of gallons of water necessary for each ship to pass as is currently done with the existing locks. There are several consortiums competing for this contract, specifically the CANAL group, Bechtel (Japanese and US), and the "Grupo Unidos por el Canal" (companies from Spain, Italy, Germany, and Panama.) Experts from the Panama Canal have been reviewing the bids and proposals since March, and each bid has been graded using a scoring system. The group obtaining the best overall score, based on both the technical merits as well as the bid price, will be awarded the contract. If you would like to watch the opening of the envelopes live via a webcast, just click on this link to see the show, which will start at 9:00 am on Wednesday morning, 8 July 2009.
Copyright 2009 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.
State considers Ceres, Ports America to operate SeagirtBy Michael Dresser for the Baltimore Sun - The port of Baltimore has concentrated its search for a private partner to operate the state-owned Seagirt Marine Terminal on two competitors - a vital step in preparation for the expected widening of the Panama Canal in 2014. The Maryland Port Association said Tuesday that Ceres Terminals Inc./Alinda Capital Partners LLC and Ports America Group/Highstar Capital have passed the qualification process and will be permitted to submit bids to run the Southeast Baltimore terminal. The lead partners are both familiar names in the Baltimore port. Ports America has operated Seagirt Marine Terminal since it opened in 1990. Ceres has been a leading stevedore here for more than 30 years. James J. White, executive director of the Maryland Port Administration, said the state expects to make a final contract award late in the fourth quarter. The winning bidder would lease the terminal for a minimum of 30 years and would be required to put up the estimated $80 million it will take to build a new 50-foot berth to accommodate the larger ships expected to call on the port after the Panama Canal is widened. That project is expected to be completed in 2014. White said there were only the two responses to the state's bid invitation but that both qualified. He expressed delight with the quality of the bidders, calling them both experienced stevedores backed by strong infrastructure investment funds. "I think we're in great shape," he said. "We're very encouraged and excited to move this thing forward." The next step in the process is for the state to outline the specific terms and conditions it is proposing for the public-private partnership agreement. The bidders will have until Sept. 4 to submit initial offers, and negotiations toward a best and final offer would take place in the fall. White said construction of the new berth is expected to begin in 2012 and take about 18 months.
West Coast ports fearing growing competitionBy LES BLUMENTHAL; MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS - WASHINGTON – Struggling to ride out the recession, West Coast ports face new competition as ports in Canada and Mexico, an expanded Panama Canal and even the Suez Canal could steal away some of the cross-Pacific shipping they’ve relied on. More than 70 percent of Asian goods imported into the U.S. – everything from toys to electronics to autos – pass through the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle, Tacoma and Portland. The directors of the ports, in a first-ever joint visit, were on Capitol Hill last week seeking billions of dollars and a federal commitment to improve rail corridors necessary to speed the goods east. “We need a well-thought-out, strategic freight policy,” said Tim Farrell, executive director of the Port of Tacoma. “We need to focus on corridors from Shanghai to Chicago or Tokyo to Houston. We are just getting started, but the West Coast ports generate more jobs than the Big Three automakers.” (more)
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Philadelphia, Panama to Build TrafficBy Peter T. Leach for the Journal of Commerce Online - The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority and the Panama Canal Authority signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday that is aimed at increasing all-water container traffic from Asia to Philadelphia through the canal. Philadelphia does not now get many calls by container ships that use the all-water route from Asia because it does not yet have the channel depth. But the PRPA and the state are planning to build a large new container terminal called Southport at the former Philadelphia Navy Yard on the Delaware River that would be capable of handling the larger post-Panamax ships that will be able to transit the canal after it completes a third set of locks in 2014. The PRPA is also sponsoring a five- to seven-year project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to deepen the Delaware River’s main channel from 40 feet to 45 feet, which will better position the port to accommodate the next generation of vessels with deeper drafts that will be able to transit the canal after 2014. The MOU was signed June 12 by PRPA Board Chairman John H. Estey and Panama Canal Administrator/CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta.
Under the agreement, which is renewable after two years, PRPA and ACP will conduct joint activities and share best practices. Specific areas of focus will include marketing, research and data interchange, technical advancements and personnel training programs. The agreement demonstrates each organization’s dedication to meeting the anticipated increased levels of international trade.
In 2008, PRPA cargo transiting the Canal, either on its way to or from its destination, totaled 1,906,343 long tons and represents half of all cargo handled by PRPA. Moreover, this number is up nearly 17,000 long tons from the year before.
Impregilo says Panama bid tops in tech appraisalSANTA MARGHERITA, Italy (Reuters) - A consortium including Italy's Impregilo SpA has obtained top marks in the technical appraisal of bids to expand the Panama Canal, Impregilo's chairman said on Friday. Impregilo has said the whole Panama expansion project is worth $3.7 billion and it has a potential 37 percent stake in any contract. "The (tender) envelopes will be opened on June 29," Chairman Massimo Ponzellini said during a conference at a meeting of the Confindustria employers association. "We know we have obtained the maximum technical points. We hope to win the contest," he said, without elaborating. Brokers have cited order news, including the Panama project, as supporting a rise in Impregilo's shares. They closed on Friday up 4.17 percent at 2.56 euros. Impregilo's consortium partners are Spain's Sacyr Vallehermoso SA, Portugal's Somague, Belgium's Jan de Nul and Panama's Cusa. Two other consortiums are on the short list. The first is the CANAL grouping including Spain's ACS SA, Acciona SA and Germany's Hochtief AG. The second is a Japanese-U.S. group led by the privately-held Bechtel. (Reporting by Cristina Carlevaro; writing by Nigel Tutt; Editing by Hans Peters)
ACP Wins "Best International Project Award" For Canal ExpansionPANAMA CITY, Panama, June 8, 2009 – The Panama Canal Expansion Program received its 11th international award to date at the 2009 International Logistics and Material Handling Exhibition (SIL 2009) in Barcelona, Spain June 4. Judges unanimously bestowed the “Best International Project” award to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) for its management of the Canal’s expansion, the “largest infrastructure initiative in Latin America.” 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. During the awards ceremony, judges of SIL 2009 recognized the original construction of the Canal as “one of the engineering wonders of all time.” Judges also acknowledged the efforts of the more than 9,000 dedicated Panamanians employed by the ACP who help facilitate the transit of ships through the Canal every day. (more)
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Panama Ready to Award Main Contract for Canal, L.A. Times Says
Expansion of the Panama Canal
Panama Canal expansion is chugging along
Dredge in the Pacific Approach
Panama Canal Expansion Bids Overshoot Budget 35%, Cinco ReportsBy Gianluca Baratti May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Three bids to widen the Panama Canal are as much as 35 percent over the budget set by the canal’s administrators and may delay building, Cinco Dias reported, citing an unidentified executive at a Spanish company involved in the bidding. Bids from partnerships that include Mitsubishi Corp., Hochtief AG and Sacyr Vallehermoso SA are higher than the $5.2 billion valuation of the project by the Panama Canal Authority and may push the award of the project beyond a July deadline, the paper said. (See Comments) Click Here To Read The Full Article (71 words)
Panama canal sees contract by JulyBy Sean Mattson PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - The Panama Canal Authority expects to award the biggest contract for its $5.25 billion expansion project in June or July, the head of the authority said on Tuesday. Experts are reviewing the technical aspects of the bids of three consortia received in April before the bid prices are formally unsealed, Authority President Alberto Aleman said at the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit. "The bids are in a vault in a bank and we expect that some time in June or July when we are finished with all the technical analysis we will have a public opening of the bids," said Aleman. "By the end of the year we should have around 96 percent of the contracts awarded and working. The expansion is proceeding very well, very much in the time that we intended." (more)
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Panama Canal expansion could facilitate crude flows to AsiaYour Oil And Gas News - The expansion of the Panama Canal could play a key role in the shipment of South American crude oil to Asia, especially as Venezuela has announced deals with Japan and China to increase exports to the region, according to an official with the Panama Canal Authority. "Today, through the Panama Canal, we see cargoes of crude oil and products that originate in Venezuela, Colombia and the Caribbean with destinations on the west coast of the Americas," Silvia de Marucci, an official with the authority, told BNamericas. "These shipments are done in Panamax vessels, which are the maximum size allowed by present locks," she continued, adding that the route was used mostly for regional trade. (more) Click Here To Read The Full Article (398 words)
Impregilo consortium on Panama Canal short list MILAN, April 21 (Reuters) - An international consortium including Italy's biggest builder Impregilo (IPGI.MI) is among the three shortlisted groups for a contract to expand the Panama Canal, Impregilo's vice chairman said on Tuesday. "There is a shortlist of three groups. Envelopes are expected to be opened in May," Antonio Talarico said on the sidelines of Milano Assicurazioni's ADM.MI shareholder meeting. Talarico said the contract was worth $3.7 billion and that Impregilo's share was 37 percent. (Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro)
T&T tapped for Panama construction projectsBy Louis B Homer for the Trinidad & Tobago Express - Almost 100 years after they helped build the Panama Canal, Trinidadians may be returning to help widen and deepen it. The project, earmarked for completion in 2015, could bring economic benefits to local construction industry contractors. Cesar Gomez, Consul General of the Republic of Panama, last week told members of the South Trinidad Chamber of Industry and Commerce that they should establish new economic ties with the authorities involved in the project. He said there will be several aspects of the project that will require the type of expertise and experience that many contractors in Trinidad can get involved in. He referred specifically to the construction of some 14 power plants and several other facilities. Gomez said there will also be the need for skilled labourers. He reminded chamber members that when the canal was first built, over 23,000 workers from Trinidad were employed on the project. He explained that the work to be carried out was intended to allow more and larger vessels to use the canal, and the decision to improve shipping facilities in Panama followed a national referendum approved in 2006. In addition to opportunities in Panama, Carlos Mauricio Pineda Cruz, Ambassador to El Salvador, said several developmental projects will soon be started in El Salvador and local contractors could benefit from a multi-million-dollar road development programme which will link the capital to various parts of the country. Both foreign ambassadors addressed the South Trinidad chamber at a breakfast meeting held on Tuesday at Paria Suites Hotel, La Romaine, as part of the chamber's programme to find alternative contracts for the local business community.
Three groups bid for $3.35 bln Panama Canal projectPANAMA CITY, March 3 (Reuters) - Three consortia placed bids on Tuesday for the biggest job of a planned $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal, the canal authority said. The groups are seeking the estimated $2.73 billion contract for two new locks on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the canal that will double capacity and allow larger vessels to use the waterway. Another $620 million project will build water saving basins for the canal. The three bidding groups include the CANAL consortium, led by Spanish companies Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA (ACS.MC) and Acciona SA (ANA.MC) and Germany's Hochtief AG (HOTG.DE); a Japanese-U.S. group led by privately-held Bechtel; and a third comprised of Sacyr Vallehermoso SA (SVO.MC) and Italy's Impreglio. (more)
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Panama Canal Dredging Bids SoughtMaritime Global Net - THE Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has announced a Request for Proposals (RFP) to dredge the Canal's Atlantic entrance. The contract includes the dredging of approximately 15 million underwater cubic meters and 800 thousand cubic meters of dry excavation. It also includes deepening the Canal's Atlantic entrance to 15.5 meters to allow the transit of post-panamax vessels through the new set of locks that will be constructed under the expansion programme. With the announcement of the RFP, potential contractors will be allowed a period of three and a half months to evaluate site conditions and one month to submit their proposals. The ACP says: “The contract will be awarded under the lowest price model. Proposals are expected to be submitted on July 15, 2009 with the project completion expected sometime in the second quarter of 2013.” (more) (See Comments) Click Here To Read The Full Article (210 words)
Panama Canal lock bids receivedMarineLog.com - The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) continues to press ahead with the start of the bid process for the most important project in its Expansion Program -- construction of the new set of locks. Today, the ACP received proposals from three consortia competing to design and build the new locks on the Pacific and Atlantic sides of the Panama Canal. The three consortia that submitted bids included: Consorcio C.A.N.A.L; Consortium Bechtel, Taisei, Mitsubishi Corporation and Consorcio Grupo Unidos por el Canal. ACP will evaluate the proposals in a fair, rigorous and transparent process, and will award the contract on the basis of "best value" -- 55 percent for the technical aspect and 45 percent for the bid price. "As we welcome bids for the design and construction of the new locks, we mark yet another historic milestone in Canal expansion," said ACP Administrator/CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta. "This is an exciting time for the Canal and for Panama as we move forward with the single most important expansion project. We stand committed to hiring a consortium that meets all technical requirements and provides the best value for the project. We are honored and pleased to receive submissions from leading firms in the industry and we will start reviewing the proposals immediately." (more)
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Panama Canal Experts Selected to Evalute BidsMaritime Global Net PANAMA CITY, February 15, 2009 – Today, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announced the final composition of the ACP Evaluation Committee that will review proposals submitted by consortia vying to win the largest contract under the $5.25 billion Canal Expansion Program – the design and construction of the new set of locks. The Committee is comprised of 15 Canal employees selected through a rigorous progress launched in October 2007. “The selection of the Evaluation Committee is the next step in the fair, rigorous and transparent process to award the locks contract,” said ACP Contracts Administration Manager Francisco Miguez. “Since releasing the request for proposals in August 2007, we have received interest from some of the world’s most renowned companies to construct the new set of locks. We are now ready to evaluate the proposals and award the most important contract under the Canal Expansion Program.” (more)
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Bidding process starts for new SPA terminal's first projectBY ALLYSON BIRD for The Post and Courier Moving ahead with its plan to built a new container terminal at the former Navy base in North Charleston, the State Ports Authority is seeking bids for the terminal's first major construction project. Fourteen companies have already expressed interest in constructing a 5,000-foot containment wall. The project, estimated at $60 million, will require dredging 880,000 cubic yards of material, installing pipe and sheet pile and constructing a rock berm. The containment wall will prepare the tideland area of the 280-acre terminal to receive fill material. Construction should begin this summer and will take about 15 months to complete. The terminal is set to open in 2014 to coincide with the Panama Canal expansion.
ACP Selects Deloitte as Auditor for New Set Of Locks ContractPANAMA CITY, February 10, 2009 – In a move to ensure a fair, open and transparent process in the awarding of the largest contract under the Panama Canal Expansion Program, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) today selected Deloitte as the ACP’s new third set of locks contracting auditor. In that capacity, Deloitte will oversee the technical aspect for the new third set of locks contract. Specifically, Deloitte will work closely with the ACP to audit, verify and certify that the ACP’s Evaluation Committee follows the rigorous analysis process to evaluate the technical proposals to be submitted by the qualifying consortia. “All ACP contracts undergo a very rigorous process to ensure fairness and transparency,” said Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Administrator/CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta. “As the most important contract under the Canal Expansion Program, the ACP has taken additional measures to ensure that the contracting process is airtight, complies with Panamanian law, and is managed by experts and audited by a third party to certify thoroughness and transparency.” (more)
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In Florida - Fighting Over New Panama Canal BusinessFlorida Shipper - Worried that the Florida panhandle Port of Panama City could swipe container ships from the Port of Miami, Miami-Dade commissioners last month passed a resolution urging the Florida Legislature “to make infrastructure investments in the Port of Miami and other existing large seaports in Florida, rather than provide funding for the substantial expansion of the Port of Panama City in Florida’s Panhandle.” Commissioner José “Pepe” Diaz told the local papers he fears the Panama Canal Authority plans to point cargo through the soon-to-be-expanded Panama Canal straight to the Panhandle. Panama Canal officials cornered Diaz during a recent visit and convinced him the improbable emergence of Panama City was a real threat. Diaz said the canal authority gave a presentation in which “they expressed that they have created a new link that will go straight up to the Panhandle, and that it will be in their opinion more efficient and better, and they’re going to make a lot of revenue.” (more)
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Panama Canal expansion: world’s best stimulus projectBy Jeremy Schwartz for the Statesman.com - Uncovering Mexico is journeying south to Panama for a couple of stories and our wanderings have of course led us to the Panama Canal, currently undergoing a $5.2 billion expansion. The project, approved by voters in 2006, is serving nicely as perhaps the world’s best stimulus package: a massive construction project that is worth nearly a fourth of the country’s yearly budget and which will create about 40,000 jobs. FDR would be proud. The expansion, which will build a new set of speedier, water-saving locks at either end of the country, is expected to be finished by 2014 (it will be quite a bit shorter, and one would hope safer, than the original project, in which some 27,000 workers perished). Seeing the Canal firsthand, I finally understood just what these mysterious locks are. Engineers needed to find a way to move ships up from sea level to the level of Panama’s inland lakes, which actually make up the majority of the Canal. The locks are a series of sealed chambers in which boats are raised with incoming water or lowered (as they leave the country) as water is released from the locks. The ships then float up or down in several stages. I never realized just how long the process takes. Passing through the three chambers at the Miraflores Locks took about a half-hour to 45 minutes per ship. And ships go through two at a time in the two parallel lanes (switching direction at midnight), meaning there is often quite a line of mega-freighters waiting to get through. Out in the Pacific we saw boats lined up for miles waiting to squeeze through the Canal and learned that traffic jams of up to a week aren’t unheard of. The expansion will not only build a set of wider locks, allowing the biggest of today’s super-freighters to pass through, it will also speed up the process. And the new locks will save the water from Panama’s inland lakes, currently used to power the lock sytem, meaning it can be used by local communities, some of which lack drinking water.
Some in Miami-Dade see competition in Panama-to-Panhandle shipping routeBy Risa Polansky for Miami Today - Some Miami-Dade commissioners are warily eyeing the Florida Panhandle as competition for international trade. They last month passed a measure urging the state "to make infrastructure investments in the Port of Miami and other existing large seaports in Florida, rather than provide funding for the substantial expansion of the Port of Panama City in Florida's Panhandle." Commissioner José "Pepe" Diaz, spearheading the push, said he fears the Panama Canal Authority plans to point cargo through the soon-to-be-expanded Panama Canal straight to the Panhandle, a route that avoids the loop around Cuba that trips to South Florida require — potentially siphoning jobs and money from Miami-Dade. (more)
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Panama Canal outlines dawn of new panamax era Seatrade Asia - Hong Kong: The Panama Canal Authority has issued a circular to all agents, owners and operators, seen by Seatrade Asia Online, outlining the precise details of the new locks under construction and by extension the dimensions for the next era of panamax ships. The expansion program, which will nearly double the canal’s tonnage capacity, consists of the construction of two new lock complexes, one on the Pacific and one on the Atlantic side of the waterway, in order to provide a third lock lane capable of handling vessels of greater beams, lengths and drafts. The program also entails the widening and deepening of existing navigational channels in Gatun Lake, Culebra Cut, and the Pacific and Atlantic Entrance Channels. Each of the new lock complexes will have three chambers, and each chamber will have water-saving basins that will permit the reutilization of up to 60% of the water employed in the lockage of a vessel. The chamber dimensions of the new locks will be 427 meters long, 55 meters wide and 18.3 meters deep. The corresponding maximum dimensions for vessels that will transit these locks are 366 meters LOA, 49 meters in beam and 15.2 meters in tropical freshwater (TFW) draft. These dimensions are being used to define the New Panamax size vessel. When the expansion is completed in 2014, the navigational channels will allow the transit of present post-Panamax containerships; Suezmax liquid-bulk tankers; Capesize dry-bulk carriers; and larger sizes of liquefied natural gas carriers, passenger ships and other vessel types within the established dimensional limits identified above.
Details on the Panama Canal Expansion Program are available on the Panama Canal website at www.pancanal.com.
Third Panama Canal expansion contract awarded By Richard High for khl.com The US$ 5.25 billion expansion of the 77 km-long Panama Canal, is the largest infrastructure project currently underway in Latin America (see www.khl.com/features for more information on this project). The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has awarded Costa Rica's Constructora MECO the third of four dry excavation contracts to help create an access channel linking the new Pacific locks with the Canal's existing Gaillard Cut (the narrowest stretch of the Panama Canal). Commenting on the contract award, the ACP's executive vice president of engineering and program management, Jorge L. Quijano, said, "This pivotal step in the process to build the new lane represents just one more example of the Expansion Program's steady progress. Constructora MECO is a leading construction company in Latin America with expertise in the execution of infrastructure projects such as this one. (more)
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IS THE EXPANSION OF THE ‘BIG DITCH’ JUST A ‘BIG PITCH’? ROBERT R. FRUMP for the Gulf Shipper - Plans proceed, but the economy and “Freight Pain” beg the question: Is the world still flat? Gulf ports say the containers will come. The expansion of the Panama Canal — the “Big Ditch,” as it is affectionately called — is on schedule. To curb any doubters, the canal authority affirmed financing in early December for the $5 billion-plus project. Still, even in an era where government-sponsored “infrastructure” projects seem to be popular, critics question whether the new “Big Ditch” will really re-order the world of U.S. and Gulf shipping as prophesied. Could it be just a “Big Pitch” for port expansion — with little underlying economic reality? Why would Gulf ports not expand? (more)
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Panama Canal awards third dry excavation contractThe JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE - The Panama Canal Authority has awarded the third of four dry excavation contracts to Constructora MECO, to help create an access channel linking the new Pacific locks with the waterway's existing Gaillard Cut, which is the narrowest stretch of the Panama Canal. The authority selected Constructora MECO from among six bids, and said that the Costa Rican firm was the lowest bidder. The scope of work included in the contract encompasses the excavation, removal and disposal of 8 million cubic meters of material, which will further reduce Paraiso (Paradise) Hill from 46 meters to 27.5 meters above sea level. It also calls for the construction of approximately 2.5 kilometers of access roads and the clearing of 190 hectares of land bearing munitions and explosives, remnants from former U.S. military training in Panama. Click Here To Read The Full Article (57 words)
Panama Canal Authority To Award New Locks Contract In MayBOGOTA (Dow Jones)--The Panama Canal Authority will likely award the contract to build a new set of locks in late May, the authority's top official said Wednesday. The four groups selected by the authority have until March 3 to submit a bid and the authority will award the contract to one of the bidders by late May taking into account technical aspects and pricing, the Canal Authority's chief executive, Alberto Aleman, said Wednesday in a conference call. The winner will build two new locks, one on the Pacific and one on the Atlantic side of the canal. Each lock will have three chambers and each chamber will have three water reutilization basins. (more)
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ACP: Multilaterals likely to play bigger role in project financeBy Renzo Dasso, Business News Americas - The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) foresees that multilateral agencies will play a bigger role in the project finance industry, ACP financial management head Enrique Márquez told BNamericas. "It would not be surprising if such a trend develops, since the origin of these agencies thrives on common issues and interests around the world," Márquez said. "Given the current economic crisis, they represent a source of funding which is readily available to the project finance industry," he added. The credit crunch caused by the global financial crisis at the beginning of the third quarter has prompted multilateral agencies to fill the space left by commercial banks, which have withdrawn from the market by restricting credit. (more)
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Financial crisis doesn't affect Panama Canal widening projectXinhua - The head of the Panama Canal Authority said Wednesday that plans to widen the canal have not been changed because of the global financial crisis. Alberto Aleman Aleman told Xinhua the project will benefit the world economy for years to come. "The Panama Canal and the world have suffered recessions before. That is nothing new," Aleman said, adding the project has "all the support and guarantee" from financial institutions. Panama President Martin Torrijos said Tuesday during a meeting to sign loans worth 2.3 billion U.S. dollars for the canal project that it was not affected by the financial uncertainty. Funding for the project was given to the Panama Canal Authority by five international financial agencies. It is estimated that the project will cost around 5.25 billion dollars, of which 43 percent is to be covered by loans, the rest by user fees. The project, which started in September 2007, is expected to be completed by 2014. The 81-kilometer waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans was opened in 1914 but now is too narrow for large modern freighters. Source: Xinhua
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