A SPOKESMAN for the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has said that the expansion of the waterway could face a new delay due to cracks that have appeared a few months ago in the one of the locks.
The consortium leading the construction project ?led by Italy's Salini Impregilo and Spain's Sacyr ?expects to finish repairing the cracks by the middle of January. However, no dates have been mentioned for the completion of the work, the ACP said, according to Reuters.
An ACP statement said the consortium was trying "to minimise the impact on the final handover, planned for April next year.
An administrator of the canal warned in September that delays would be likely after cracks were first detected in August.
Meanwhile, the ACP has posted a request for qualifications (RFQ) for the construction of a 5.3 million TEU container terminal at Corozal, on the eastern bank of the Canal Pacific entrance.
The terminal is to be developed two phases: the first one with a 3.2 million TEU capacity and 1,350 metres of quay and 66 hectares of yard, and the second phase with a 2.1 million TEU capacity with additional 56 hectares of yard.
The notice was posted on the Panama Canal website and documents will be need to be received by December 30, 2015 before 3pm. The review of the documents will take two weeks.
"The qualification process begins now with the request for qualifications. Then, once the documents are received, we will proceed to evaluate each and every one of them according to the requirements set forth," ACP administrator Jorge Quijano told Seatrade Maritime News.
"We expect to have that done in January while we go to the [Panama National] Assembly for the law [to give the port operator the identical tax incentives that those of other terminals in Panama] and complete the environmental impact study. Once those two processes are concluded, we will follow with the approval of the tender document by the [ACP] board of directors. Once they approve it, the tender will be published," Mr Quijano said.
Eleven of the largest international port operators in the world have formally expressed their interest in participating in a public tender for the concession of the Port of Corozal.
Amongst those were: SA Terminal Investment Limited (TIL) (Netherlands), Eurogate GmbH & Co (Germany), Carrix Inc and Affiliates (USA), Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co (Korea), APM Terminals (Netherlands), Ports America (USA), CMA-CGM (France), Evergreen (Taiwan), China Shipping Ports Development Co, LTD & China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (ROC), Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (Germany), and Hutchison Whampoa (Hong Kong).
WORLD SHIPPING
01 December 2015 - 22:23
Panama Canal expansion could suffer new delay with cracks in lock
A SPOKESMAN for the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has said that the expansion of the waterway could face a new delay due to cracks that have appeared a few months ago in the one of the locks.
WORLD SHIPPING
01 December 2015 - 22:23
Panama Canal expansion could suffer new delay with cracks in lock
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