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.
[mappress]
Dredging Today Staff, July 22, 2013