The Panama Canal Authority expects to award the biggest contract for its $5.25 billion expansion project in June or July, the head of the authority said on Tuesday. Experts are reviewing the technical aspects of the bids of three consortia received in April before the bid prices are formally unsealed, Authority President Alberto Aleman said at the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit. "The bids are in a vault in a bank and we expect that some time in June or July when we are finished with all the technical analysis we will have a public opening of the bids," said Aleman.
"By the end of the year we should have around 96 percent of the contracts awarded and working. The expansion is proceeding very well, very much in the time that we intended."
Impreglio SpA, one of the companies participating in the tender, told investors last month it expected the contract to be awarded in May.
The Authority had previously delayed the reception of bids on the contract but Aleman insisted it would not affect plans to complete the expansion by 2014, the centenary of the waterway's opening in 1914.
The expansion project, which will allow much larger ships to transit the canal, is being funded by canal's cash flow and $2.3 billion in loans raised from multilateral lenders.
The canal expects shipping volumes to decline by 5 percent this year due to the global economic slowdown but an increase in transit fees imposed on May 1 should keep revenue flat at $2 billion compared with 2008, Aleman said.
In addition to Impreglio, other companies involved in bidding for the expansion contract include Spanish firms Sacyr Vallehermoso SA, Acciona SA, Germany's Hochtief AG and a US-Japanese group led by closely held Bechtel Corp.
Fees cut
Canal officials are optimistic that economic stimulus packages unveiled by governments around the world will help global trade recover, but Aleman was cautious when asked how quickly shipping patterns would rebound.
The Authority last week reached out to the troubled container shipment sector, charging ships carrying cargoes of 30 percent or less than their rated capacity as if they were empty, and relaxing reservation system penalties.
"We understand if there is no market, nobody wants to be coming (through the canal) with a very low (used) capacity," said Aleman, adding the relaxed fees would be re-evaluated at the end of the canal's fiscal year in September.
Aleman said grain traffic is up this year, thanks to more shipments from the Mississippi basin to Asian markets. Auto carrier and container traffic has fallen, forcing shippers to consolidate routes.
Cruise ship traffic, which is a small percentage of canal revenue, is up slightly as cruise ships begin spending more time in Panama on a general trend of increased tourism.
"The canal is a very exciting place to come see," he said, noting one cruise line is using Panama as a seasonal home port. "I am sure that other companies will follow."
"By the end of the year we should have around 96 percent of the contracts awarded and working. The expansion is proceeding very well, very much in the time that we intended."
Impreglio SpA, one of the companies participating in the tender, told investors last month it expected the contract to be awarded in May.
The Authority had previously delayed the reception of bids on the contract but Aleman insisted it would not affect plans to complete the expansion by 2014, the centenary of the waterway's opening in 1914.
The expansion project, which will allow much larger ships to transit the canal, is being funded by canal's cash flow and $2.3 billion in loans raised from multilateral lenders.
The canal expects shipping volumes to decline by 5 percent this year due to the global economic slowdown but an increase in transit fees imposed on May 1 should keep revenue flat at $2 billion compared with 2008, Aleman said.
In addition to Impreglio, other companies involved in bidding for the expansion contract include Spanish firms Sacyr Vallehermoso SA, Acciona SA, Germany's Hochtief AG and a US-Japanese group led by closely held Bechtel Corp.
Fees cut
Canal officials are optimistic that economic stimulus packages unveiled by governments around the world will help global trade recover, but Aleman was cautious when asked how quickly shipping patterns would rebound.
The Authority last week reached out to the troubled container shipment sector, charging ships carrying cargoes of 30 percent or less than their rated capacity as if they were empty, and relaxing reservation system penalties.
"We understand if there is no market, nobody wants to be coming (through the canal) with a very low (used) capacity," said Aleman, adding the relaxed fees would be re-evaluated at the end of the canal's fiscal year in September.
Aleman said grain traffic is up this year, thanks to more shipments from the Mississippi basin to Asian markets. Auto carrier and container traffic has fallen, forcing shippers to consolidate routes.
Cruise ship traffic, which is a small percentage of canal revenue, is up slightly as cruise ships begin spending more time in Panama on a general trend of increased tourism.
"The canal is a very exciting place to come see," he said, noting one cruise line is using Panama as a seasonal home port. "I am sure that other companies will follow."