VIDEO: Progress of Panama Canal Expansion Program

The Panama Canal expansion project will double the capacity of the Panama Canal by 2015 by creating a new lane of traffic and allowing more and larger ships to transit.

The project is expected to create demand for ports to handle post-Panamax ships. The program also entails the widening and deepening of existing navigational channels in Gatun Lake and the deepening of Culebra Cut.

The project will:

– Build two new locks, one each on the Atlantic and Pacific sides. Each will have three chambers with water-saving basins;

– Excavate new channels to the new locks;

– Widen and deepen existing channels;

– Raise Gatun Lake’s maximum operating level.

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Dredging Today Staff, July 4, 2013