Panama Canal Hosts Expansion Site Visit and Pre-Tender Meeting

• ACP TO PROVIDE DETAILS ON FOURTH DRY EXCAVATION CONTRACT

PANAMA CITY, Panama, August 24, 2009 – The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) will host a site visit and pre-tender meeting for the fourth dry excavation contract of expansion this week in Panama. Both events, to be held Tuesday, August 25 and Wednesday, August 26, will offer key insights into the project, and all interested bidders are encouraged to attend.

The fourth dry excavation is the second largest and most complex expansion project after the locks contract, representing 54 percent of the total excavation for the new access channel linking the new Pacific locks with the waterway’s existing Gaillard Cut (the narrowest stretch of the Panama Canal).

The ACP released its request for proposals (RFP) July 30 and will award the contract to the firm or consortium with the lowest priced proposal that meets all of the RFP’s requirements. Technical qualifications submissions are due September 15, while technical and price proposals for the contract are due October 30.

Expansion will build 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.

Details of the RFP are available on the ACP’s Online Bidding System (tender number 94278): http://www.pancanal.com/esp/ampliacion/licitaciones/index.html.

For additional site visit and info-conference details, please contact Raúl Arosemena at rarosemena@pancanal.com.

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/.