The largest infrastructure project since the waterway’s original construction, the Panama Canal Expansion Program will create a new lane of traffic along the Canal through the construction of a new set of locks, doubling the waterway’s capacity.
The new locks will have three chambers, water-saving basins, lateral filling and emptying system & rolling gates.
The project will also help to protect and conserve the water resources of the Panama Canal watershed. A new water-saving basin system will improve water efficiency, utilizing seven percent less water than the existing locks. In addition, 60 percent of the water will be recycled in each transit.
Grupo Unidos por el Canal, S.A. (GUPC), the main contractor responsible for the design and construction of the Panama Canal’s third set of locks, won the largest contract under the Panama Canal’s $5.25 billion expansion program. The consortium includes Spain’s Sacyr Vallehermoso, Italy’s Impregilo, Belgian Jan de Nul Group and Panama’s Constructora Urbana SA.