A special-purpose vessel has departed Trieste, Italy, with four new lock gates for the Panama Canal’s expansion and is expected to arrive in mid-June, the Panama Canal Authority announced Sunday.
The Panama Canal Authority in late February settled a two-month contract dispute with the international consortium in charge of building the third set of locks. Construction work slowed considerably during the impasse over cost overruns, pushing the opening of the wider lane to at least late in the first quarter of 2016. Under the agreement, contractor GUPC is required to deliver the remaining 12 lock gates in stages by December of this year.
The first shipment of four gates arrived in Panama last August.
The Panama Canal Authority says the expansion program is now 74 percent complete.
Panama Canal to receive new lock gates in June
