Panama Canal Locks – Tests Completed & Fortified!

The Panama Canal Authority has announced that the testing of the reinforcements in sill Number 3 of the Cocolí locks has been completed successfully.

Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC),  the consortium responsible for the design and construction of the Third Set of Locks Project completed the test successfully and will now proceed to test the electromechanical components necessary for the expanded canal to operate.

The testing was inspected by a team of independent experts, professors and structural engineers from the Technological University of Panama, who certified the successful completion of the test.

Less than four percent remains to complete the overall project which will be inaugurated later this year.

Background:

• In August 2015, seepage was first detected in sill Number 3 where the GUPC technical personnel monitored the testing process. It consisted the process of gradually raising the water behind the lock gate to the seepage level.
• The Panama Canal Authority announced in September 2015 that the leak occurred in the concrete sill between the lower and middle chamber of the Canal’s expanded Pacific Locks as a result of insufficient steel reinforcement.

The expanded canal was last scheduled to open in April, however the date was pushed due to repairs.

Source: Panama Canal

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