Select your region to visit a Stantec regional site, or visit our Locations Hub on our Global site where you can learn more about Stantec in your local area. The Panama Canal Authority had to decide: modernize or risk becoming a tourist attraction. Their existing canals were too small to accommodate the ships that currently traversed the ocean. The solution?
Build a third set of locks. The shared models helped resolve design conflicts prior to construction, saving time and money. The new locks are longer, deeper, and wider, with the ability to transport ships three times larger than the existing locks. It also had to withstand seismic loads of 0. Lake Gatun is the primary fresh water source for the Panamanian community, so the project had to be sustainable and environmentally conscious.
And, the new gates used seven percent less water than the existing locks. LNG ships began using the waterway for the first time after the opening of the Expanded Canal.
Since then, this segment has experienced steady growth. Then, suddenly, during water tests in the canal, a public relations disaster: photographs and video showing water gushing from concrete in one of the Pacific locks — the same locks near the earthquake faults.
The problem had remained a secret for more than a week. But the images, posted anonymously on Aug. This was no small leak. Water spurted from cracks extending across nearly the entire width of the lock, according to Ilya Espino de Marotta, the executive vice president for engineering at the canal authority. The breach occurred in a concrete block separating the lower and middle chambers. For the canal authority, the delayed disclosure only magnified the embarrassment. Asked by a legislator if he had tried to hide the leak, Mr.
Quijano acknowledged only that he had taken too long to inform the public. Some days later, a consensus emerged: The design, not the concrete, was at fault. Marotta said in an interview that the leak had occurred only because the concrete was subjected to extreme pressure when one chamber was empty and the next was full.
During normal operations, both chambers would contain water. To fix the problem, the authority had two options: Tear down the concrete and rebuild it, an expensive remedy that would cause further delays, or drill holes and insert steel reinforcement bars.
The decision was made to reinforce. Marotta said there had already been reinforcement in the affected areas, just not enough. A nagging question, however, remained. If this chamber leaked, how about the others? And, indeed, a smaller leak was soon found on the Atlantic side. A month after the first leak was discovered in the Pacific lock, further cracks were found during a new test. In one spot, water was not flowing, although the cracks were wet.
Now, the locks are patched up, their christening near. But in the Panamanian circles where people talk and worry about the canal, there is little unanimity about what exactly went wrong and what should have been done about it. Humberto Reynolds, a concrete expert, was not involved in investigating the leaks, but has monitored the situation and discussed it with fellow civil engineers at meetings of the Panamanian Society of Engineers and Architects. Reynolds, who voted against the canal project, said he believed the problems stemmed from the wrong mix of concrete ingredients and substandard pouring practices.
Canal officials said all the problems had been properly repaired. Quijano said. In good times — and in Panama, that means when it rains — Gatun Lake is 85 feet above sea level. From its shore, you can see the Atlantic Ocean spreading out to meet the horizon. Without Gatun, Panama would be barely a footnote in history. Without Gatun, there would be no Panama Canal or the 10, people it employs, or the cash that pours into the national treasury, or the audacious skyline that speaks of money and power.
And that is why, on Feb. Rainfall last year was 36 percent below normal. One month later, the canal authority instructed shippers to lighten their loads so their vessels did not hit bottom.
A week and a half later, they were told to lighten them more. And 10 days later, even more. Like the leak, the water shortage hit at an inopportune time. Just one day after the last load warning, the canal authorities issued instructions for neo-Panamax vessels seeking to use the new locks after they open. The large ships would not be able to carry much more than the smaller vessels in the old passage — hardly a good return on investment for shippers or the canal. Load restrictions are not new, but these came after Gatun had been dredged to collect more water for the new locks.
When they open, Gatun will have to supply nearly twice as much water for the old and new locks combined. Quijano declined to answer questions about water availability. But this weather pattern was no more unexpected than the prospect of more shortages due to global warming and increased public water consumption. In fact, two international banks had questioned the wisdom of expanding the canal without a new water source. Canal officials, too, recognized the need to find more water as they began planning for the new locks.
But their solution ran into a political firestorm. In , Mr. The impoverished people who would have been displaced were not pleased, and with the help of a Roman Catholic Church activist group, they protested. It was morally wrong, the local bishop, Msgr. The government pushed back. Another leader of the protests, Francisco Aperador, whom the church had sent to Panama to work with the indigenous population, was expelled from the country, Mr.
Endara said. Drohan declined to comment for this article. But ultimately, fearing the loss of a national referendum on canal expansion, the legislature reversed itself in and rescinded the law. The canal authority switched positions, as well, and said it did not need a new reservoir.
Water-saving basins were built so the canal could reuse 60 percent of the water that fills the locks as ships pass through, according to canal officials. The basins, said Frank C. With the protests quelled, the canal expansion passed with 70 percent of the vote in the referendum, though less than half of the population turned out.
And what are people going to say? On the morning of June 9, the training wheels came off as the first neo-Panamax ship, the Baroque Valletta, entered the first of three locks on the Atlantic side. With the official opening just two weeks away, canal officials wanted to be sure their locks worked as planned. The Italian consortium member, now called Salini Impregilo, had invited foreign journalists to fly in and watch.
But the canal authority had other ideas. They are totally wrong. Impregilo told the authority that the crossing would not remain a secret because hundreds of canal workers would be watching, cellphones in hand, taking pictures.
Canal officials relented. The journalists came. It now allows a huge class of ships called Neo Panamax that are the size of three football fields to traverse the canal with their thousands of tons of cargo.
The expansion project has allowed the canal to meet demand growth which will vastly improve Panama's economy and increase international trade. In addition to overseeing the expansion itself, she also manages all other construction contracts of the Panama Canal, such as the construction of a new bridge on the Atlantic side.
Throughout the expansion phase, she took regular helicopter rides along the canal's mile path to monitor and assess construction progress. I realized I learned a mindset to think, to approach unconventional challenges with clear mindedness and confidence.
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