Panama Canal ‘inauguration’ still expected in Q2 2016

The expansion of the important Central American cargo gateway to accommodate larger containerships is 96 percent complete, according to the CEO of the Panama Canal Authority.    The Panama Canal Expansion will be ceremonially “”inaugurated by the second quarter of 2016, with commercial opening to follow shortly there after,” according to Jorge L. Quijano, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) administrator and chief executive officer.
   “The work achieved thus far in the expansion program has been significant, and it is now 96 percent complete,” Quijano wrote in the January edition of the agency’s Canal Connection newsletter.
   He said reinforcement of the lock sills by the GUPC consortium building the canal “will be completed this month.”
   “Subsequently, the ACP will initiate acceptance tests on the locks and associated elements to ensure quality,” he added “This will be followed by vessel trials and training transits through the new Atlantic locks.”
   Quijano’s comments come shortly after Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela said in a national address he expected work on the canal to be finished “around the month of May.” At the time, Varela urged contractors and the ACP to put aside their legal disputes in order to keep the project on schedule.