Aconex is providing its online collaboration solution to the US$3.2 billion Panama Canal Third Set of Locks Project, one of the world’s great engineering projects. Aconex is providing all the organizations engaged on the program with a central platform for managing information and project communication.
The new set of locks, at the heart of the $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal, will allow the waterway to double its shipping capacity by 2025. The project consists of the construction of two new lock complexes – one on the Pacific and one on the Atlantic side of the Canal – which will be 40 percent longer and 60 percent wider than the originals. Each lock will have three chambers and each chamber will have three water recycling basins. The expansion program is scheduled for completion in 2014, 100 years after the canal first opened.
The Expansion project team comprises leading international contractors and consultants including American firm CH2M Hill as Program Manager and a construction consortium and design team that includes organizations from the Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Argentina the U.S. and Panama.
With this globally-dispersed project team likely to exchange hundreds of thousands of documents and correspondence items over the project’s duration, efficient collaboration will be integral to the project’s success.
By using Aconex, all project members will be able to access, distribute and track their documents and correspondence in real time, at any time and from any location. This will save time by enabling fast access to information, reduce printing and distribution costs, and reduce exposure to risks such as disputes and delays. Throughout the program’s lifecycle, all parties will have the confidence that their project information is accessible, accurate and secure.