THE Panama Canal Expansion has completed the transfer of all gates belonging to the new locks on the Pacific side, thus completing delivery of the last eighth unit.
Final gate transits Panama Canal by barge for last lock on Pacific sideTHE Panama Canal Expansion has completed the transfer of all gates belonging to the new locks on the Pacific side, thus completing delivery of the last eighth unit.
The canal expansion is 82 per cent complete, involving of the construction of a third lane, allowing bigger ships, which will double the canal's capacity.
Transits began on October 22 to move all eight gates through the waterway aboard a barge from the Atlantic temporary dock to the Pacific, assisted by tugs.
This last gate is 31.9 metres high, 57 metres long and eight metres wide, weighing 4,200 tons of the heaviest of the lock gates.
"The new locks will have 16 rolling gates, eight in the Pacific and eight in the Atlantic. With this last transit, all gates will be in the new locks ready for installation during the next couple of months," said the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) statement.
Since August 2013, the gates have been arriving in staggered shipments from Italy on a postpanamax vessel to a temporary dock in the Atlantic side. The last shipment arrived in November.
