- SIX COMPANIES COMPETING TO DREDGE GATUN LAKE
PANAMA CITY, Panama, June 1, 2010 – Six companies submitted bids today to dredge an area of the Panama Canal’s manmade body of water, Gatun Lake. The ACP will now analyze the technical and financial submissions and award the contract to the firm with the lowest-priced bid that meets the requirements stated in the request for proposal.
The primary element within the scope of work for this contract is to widen and deepen the existing navigational channel by dredging approximately 4.6 million cubic meters in the northern most reaches of the Lake. This contract is one component within the ACP’s Fresh Water Dredging and Excavation Project for the Canal Expansion, which includes the dredging and/or excavation of about 30 million cubic meters in Gatun Lake and the Gaillard Cut (the narrowest stretch of the Panama Canal).
The ACP will do most of the 30 million cubic meters of dredging and excavation within the Fresh Water Dredging and Excavation Project using its own resources, while contracting portions of the project, such as the area included in this contract in Gatun Lake. The ACP has also published another tender for the excavation and dredging of about 3.8 million cubic meters near the Gaillard Cut at the entrance of the new Pacific Locks Access Channel. The ACP expects to receive bids for this contract July 16, 2010.
Gatun Lake spans 163 square miles and is essential to the operation of the Canal. At the time of its creation in 1910, during the Canal’s original construction, Gatun Lake was the largest manmade lake in the world.
Over the course of the coming days, the ACP will review the documents submitted to verify the company’s experience, technical capacity, financial strength and bonding before awarding the contract.
Below are the companies that submitted bids and the corresponding bid prices in U.S. dollars.
| COMPANY | BID PRICE |
|---|---|
| Dredging International | $ 39,983,822.82 |
| China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) | $ 67,377,423.00 |
| Boskalis International | $ 85,500,207.49 |
| Great Lakes Dredge & Dock | $ 72,392,354.34 |
| Van Oord | $ 97,998.256.97 |
| Jan De Nul | $ 57,856,939.00 |
“We greatly appreciate the interest received from these highly qualified global companies – today’s bid opening is an important step forward in the waterway’s historic expansion. The Gatun Lake dredging project is vital to ensure that larger, wider ships can reach the new Atlantic locks,” said ACP Executive Vice President of Engineering and Program Management Jorge L. Quijano. “Keeping with the Expansion Program momentum, we look forward to awarding the contract to the winning firm in the coming weeks.”
Expansion will build a new lane of traffic along the Panama Canal through the construction of a new set of locks which will double capacity and allow more traffic and longer, wider ships.
About the Panama Canal Authority (ACP)
The ACP is the autonomous agency of the Government of Panama in charge of managing, operating and maintaining the Panama Canal. The operation of the ACP is based on its organic law and the regulations approved by its Board of Directors. For more information, please refer to the ACP’s Web site: http://www.pancanal.com/. You can also follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/thepanamacanal.
Yo can view the recording of the bid opening ceremony event at http://www.pancanal.com/esp/multimedia/videos/97274.html.
