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The Panama Canal Authority has awarded another excavation contract for the Panama Canal Expansion. The third of four such contracts was awarded to the lowest bidder, Constructora Meco, SA headquartered in Costa Rica but licenses in Panama since 1995. The Panama Canal Expansion involves creating a new “third lane” and a set of two much larger locks to allow passage of most of the 37% of world ships which are too large to pass through the original 1914 locks.

The Panama Canal has been referred to as “the big ditch.” Now, with the Panama Canal Expansion project they are digging a bigger ditch. The third of four excavation contracts will dig the channel to connect the new set of locks on the Pacific to the Galliard Cut.

The original Panama Canal construction was considered one of the world’s engineering marvels. It has been thirty years since the last case of yellow fever in Panama. That was the killer of tens of thousands during the failed French attempt and the American project to build the canal ending in 1914.

Today the Panama Canal carries five percent of world trade each year. The completed Panama Canal Expansion will double capacity and the new locks will be substantially longer and wider. The original Panama Canal locks were built to allow passage of the largest US warship of the time and are much too small for super tankers and today’s huge cargo ships. The largest ships that can pass through the locks today are referred to as Panamax.

According to the Panama Canal Authority web site the bidders for the dry excavation contract were as follows:

According to the Panama Canal Authority, “Constructora MECO, S.A. is a leading construction company in Latin America with expertise in the execution of infrastructure projects such as [the Panama Canal Expansion].

“The scope of work included in the contract encompasses the excavation, removal and disposal of 8 million cubic meters of material, which will further reduce Paraíso (Paradise) Hill from 46 meters to 27.5 meters above sea level. It also calls for the construction of approximately 2.5 kilometers of access roads and the clearing of 190 hectares of land bearing munitions and explosives of consideration (MEC), remnants from former U.S. military training in Panama.”

The removal of unexploded ordinance is a major part of the project and likely the reason for the wide range of bids. When the United States administered the Panama Canal the USA also used the Panama Canal Zone (five miles on either side of a center line from Atlantic to Pacific) for jungle warfare training. The US left the Panama Canal Zone nine years ago but US presence goes back to 1906 so there could well be 100 year old ordinance rusting away in the tropical soil and waiting for removal.

The Panama Canal Expansion is expected to be completed in 2014 which will be 100 years after completion of the original project.