FCC takes part in events to celebrate expansion of Panama Canal
FCC took part in the events organised by the Republic of Panama to mark the inauguration of a new third set of locks that complete the interoceanic route that crosses the Central American isthmus and that triple its capacity. The Citizen Services Group was responsible for the PAC 4 project to expand the Panama Canal.
The President of the Republic, Juan Carlos Varela, accompanied by the Minister of Canal Affairs, Roberto Roy, the CEO of the Panama Canal, Jorge Luís Quijano, representatives from more than 60 delegations from all over the world and thousands of Panamanians witnessed the passage of the first New Panamax ship, “Cosco Shipping Panamá”, of Chinese origin, with a load of 9,400 containers.
The figures from FCC who were present at the inauguration ceremony included the director of FCC Construcción in Central America, Manuel Antonio Olivares, the manager of Civil Engineering of FCC Construcción in Panama José Manuel Garrido, and the manager of the Pacific Access Channel (PAC-4) project, Jesús Martínez, who attended on behalf of the consortium in charge of undertaking the project, led by FCC, along with the Mexican company ICA and the Cost Rican company MECO.
The PAC-4 project, which formed part of the work on the Panama Canal Expansion, consisted of the excavation of a new channel in the Panama Canal with the aim of linking the new locks with the so-called Corte Culebra, the narrowest stretch of the waterway, with a length of 12.6 km, close to the Canal’s Pacific access.
According to Manuel Antonio Olivares, director of FCC Construcción in Central America, the construction of the 3.7 kilometre channel approaching the Pacific locks, with a width of 200 metres, involved “a technical challenge of the highest magnitude”.
The PAC-4 also included the construction of a 2.4 km-long dam from loose materials, the excavation, transportation and dumping of some 27 million cubic metres of material, mainly rocky, as well as the completion of the access routes and bypass channels for water drainage, the creation of reservoirs and clearing approximately 80 hectares of waste material area.
This project started on 22 January 2010 and was handed over to the Panama Canal Authority on 20 December 2015.
FCC joined the celebration of what was the largest infrastructure project of this century and is proud to have contributed, with its skill and experience, in achieving this milestone of global importance.
FCC takes part in events to celebrate expansion of Panama Canal
FCC takes part in events to celebrate expansion of Panama Canal