Enlarged canal infrastructure in a state of disrepair
A new incident has been added to the list of issues that have plagued the enlarged Panama Canal, raising doubts over the proper use of the state funds which were employed for its construction.
- Rafael Berrocal/ @PanamaAmerica
- - Actualizado: 13/1/2017 - 02:13 pm
A new incident has been added to the list of issues that have plagued the enlarged Panama Canal, raising doubts over the proper use of the state funds which were employed for its construction.
This last instance regards the damages suffered by one of the walls of the new set of locks that have been in operation for barely six months.
A video and pictures of a vessel scraping against a concrete wall and causing fenders and concrete to fall into the water went viral recently. Panama America spoke to various sources across the main workers unions at the Panama Canal Authority (ACP): the latter pointed to the veracity of the video, while also raising serious concerns about the state of disrepair of some of the enlarged canal infrastructure.
According to Carlos Reyes, of the Federation of the Panama Canal Workers, the kind of incident shown in the video had never occurred in the old canal. “Sometimes a fender may fall off as a vessel moves through the locks, but never concrete: at first sight this looks like a bad joke on the Panamanian people”.
Those sentiments were echoed by Ivan de la Guardia, secretary general of the National Union of Captains, who denounced the poor quality of construction in the light of the damages suffered, while highlighting the risk to the proper operation of the inter-oceanic route. This is because fenders that fall into the canal represent a danger for the tugs that operate there, as has already occurred in one of the enlarged canal locks at Agua Clara (Colon).
A month ago, as the Valparaiso Express vessel was transiting the canal amid much fanfare organized by the ACP, one of the tugs suffered a failure. The incident led to traffic being halted until a replacement could be found. In the event, the Valparaiso Express took two hours to cross the waterway, something that was omitted in the press release issued by the ACP.
According to Mr. de la Guardia, the incident shown in the video predates that suffered by the Valparaiso Express, and occurred in the Cocoli locks.
For his part, Mr. Reyes has called for explanations on the part of the authorities, especially with regards to the quality control measures that were followed during the construction works. “Canal Administrator Jorge Quijano has to explain publicly what has gone wrong, alongside the group of inspectors that were charged with the supervision of the works”.
He has called for the board of directors to determine what measure will be taken to ensure that those responsible for this latest incident are held accountable. Mr. Reyes also denounced as brazen the demands of the construction consortium (GUPC) for billions of dollars in damages allegedly caused by cost overruns. GUPC is suing the Canal for $5.67bn, over and above the total amount the initial contracts was worth ($5.45bn). In August 2015, when the enlarged Canal was still undergoing trials, leaks were found in one of the locks on the Pacific Ocean, raising doubts over the quality of the construction works.
Para comentar debes registrarte y completar los datos generales.