Inauguration of expanded locks set for June 26

THE THIRD of locks for the Panama Canal  that will enable the transit of vessels   carrying three times more than the current capacity, will be officially inaugurated on June 26.

The announcement was made  Wednesday March 23 by  Canal Authority (ACP) Administrator Jorge Luis Quijano at the  Summit training center for pilots.

It comes after   more than eight years of construction and with multi-millions in cost  overruns, some still in dispute.

The opening will be in front of invited leaders  from 70 countries that use the canal, including The United States.

President Juan Carlos Varela said that Chancellor and Vice President Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado will have the task of organizing the presence of the leaders.

The Maneuver Training Center will be used to train pilots who operate vessels that will use the new locks,

Construction of the center began in  February 2015 and in November of that year the first tugs to be used in simulations arrived.

The postpanamax, called by the ACP neopanamax are megaships that can carry up to 13,200  TEUs (20-foot long), almost three times the amount of current vessels

The training center was built to 1:25 scale, ie ships transiting the locks are 25 times larger than those used in this center.

It was built on an area of ​​eight hectares at a cost of more than $8 million and adjoins the Summit Municipal Park.

It was developed with advice from the Port Revel, France and has an artificial lake and two locks similar to the real ones.