Panama Canal Expansion

ACP approves bidders for locks

Four consortiums approved for bidding process for $3.2 billion contract.

CARLOS LEMOS/LA PRENSA

EXPANSION: Shipping traffic and revenues will go up when the canal expansion is finished. Four consortia are vying for the contract to build a third set of locks. 956498

The four consortiums that submitted applications for the design and construction of the third set of locks for the Panama Canal expansion have all passed a pre-qualification review.

The results of the review were announced yesterday by the Autoridad del Canal de Panamá (ACP).

The four consortiums represent 30 companies from 13 countries. They are competing for a $3.2 billion contract to install the new locks. That part of the project is expected to be 60 percent of the expansion's total cost.

The consortiums are Germany's Bilfinger Berger AG, Mexico's Empresas ICA SAB, Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation and Bechtel Group Incorporated of the United States.

The expansion is expected to cost a total of $5.25 billion. The project will allow bigger ships to use the canal and also allow a greater number of vessels to pass through the locks.

The new locks are expected to conserve fresh water. The current set of locks wash millions of gallons of freshwater out to sea each time the locks open and close.

Now that the pre-qualifying process has been completed, the consortiums will start working on formal bids for the project. Those bids are expected to be submitted in mid-2008, with a decision expected by the end of that year. The bidding process is expected to cost each consortium millions of dollars.