A Nicaragua-spanning canal, set for groundbreaking by year end, has led ACP to do conceptual planning for a fourth lane across Panama. As a possible investment, Quijano says, "Panama could attend to additional demand by building a fourth set of locks at a fraction of the cost of what it would take to build a canal through Nicaragua. I think the return on investment is here in Panama and not somewhere else." Experts estimate the proposed 172-mile Nicaraguan canal would cost more than $50 billion. Quijano adds that there are other projects that would come before a fourth set of locks in Panama, however, such as "additional deepening and widening of our channels—and that will happen if the demand is there."
$5.25-Billion Panama Canal Expansion Program Moves Into the Final Leg
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Fabricated by Italian subcontractor Cimolai, the new gates traveled to Panama on ships too big to fit through the existing canal.
Photo Courtesy of ACP
After their journey across the Atlantic, the gates were stored for their trip via mobile transporters to lock chambers for final positioning.
Photo Courtesy of GUPC
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Gates are in position in the lock chambers, ready to make the tight turn into their recesses; work that is scheduled to start in late December.
Photo Courtesy of GUPC
With fanfare, the gates to be installed in the Pacific locks were loaded one by one on ships that could transit through the existing locks.
Photo Courtesy of ACP
Massive concrete works, which will raise ships in three stages, stretch from the newly dredged Pacific entrance (far left) to the Pacific Access Channel (near left).
Photo Courtesy of GUPC
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