Tests Suggest Panama Canal Lock Leaks Fixed

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday February 16, 2016

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Monday said that leaks in its new locks that were threatening to delay the opening of the expanded canal, have now been fixed.

Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), the consortium responsible for the design and construction of the expanded canal, has performed tests on reinforcements installed in sill #3 of the Cocolí locks and found it is holding water.

GUPC technical personnel monitored the testing process, which saw workers gradually increase the amount of water behind the lock gate to the level in which the seepage was first detected last August.

The testing was said to have been inspected by a team of independent experts, professors and structural engineers from the Technological University of Panama, all of whom expressed satisfaction with the final results.

The PCA had threatened legal action against GUPC over the leaks, which threatened to further delay the opening of the newly expanded canal.

Following the completion of this work, GUPC will proceed to test the electromechanical components necessary for the expanded canal to operate.

Less than four percent remains to complete the overall project, says ACP.

In October of 2015 Ship & Bunker reported on the possible legal action by the ACP over the cracks.