Panama Canal Atlantic entrance dredging contract awarded

The companies that submitted bids with corresponding bid prices were: Joint Venture Boskalis-Dredging International (US$177,611,840); Van Oord Dredging (US$162,182,828); China Harbour Engineering Co. (US$116,732,224); Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. (US$195,943,129) and Jan De Nul n.v (US$89,617,317).

The Atlantic entrance dredging project will ensure that larger, wider ships can reach the new locks. It will lower the Canal bottom to 15.5 m below Mean Low Water (MLW) and includes dredging approximately 14.8m cu m and excavating 800,000 cu m. The area to be dredged on the Atlantic entrance extends approximately 13.8 kms.

The scope of work also includes widening the existing Atlantic entrance channel from 198 m to a minimum of 225 m and the north approach channel to a minimum of 218 m.