Panama Canal Awards Last Excavation Contract

The Panama Canal Authority on Thursday awarded the fourth and final contract for dry excavation for a channel to its third set of locks to FCC-ICA-MECO, a joint venture between Spanish, Mexican and Puerto Rican engineering companies

The PAC-4 contract, as it is called, will help create an access channel linking the new Pacific locks with the Canal’s existing Gaillard Cut, which is the narrowest stretch of the Panama Canal.

FCC-ICA-MECO submitted a bid of $267,798,795 for the contract on Dec. 22, which turned out to be the lowest submitted by the four bidders.

The canal authority said that following a comprehensive review, it determined that the bid met the requirements of the RFP and awarded the contract to this consortium for what is called the PAC-4 project.

The project includes excavating 26 million cubic meters of unclassified excavation, installing a backfilled cellular cofferdam water barrier and building an earth-rock filled dam that will create part of the access channel’s eastern bank.

Other work under this contract includes:
-- constructing access roads;
-- managing disposal site areas for excavated or dredged material;
-- installing a dewatering system to remove surface and underground water;
-- clearing unexploded ordnance (UXOs) – remnants from former U.S. military training facilities in the Canal area; and,
-- other miscellaneous tasks such as demolition work.

The $5.25 billion expansion project involves building a new lane of traffic along the Panama Canal through the construction of a new set of locks that will double capacity and allow more traffic and longer, wider ships.

Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com.