Panama will take bids from four international consortiums seeking to build new, larger ship locks for the Panama Canal, government officials said on Friday.
The locks are a key part of the US$5.25 billion canal expansion project begun in September, aimed at doubling the capacity of the 80-kilometre canal connecting two oceans. Panamanian officials hope the project will be finished by 2014.
The four consortiums now have until August 2008 to present final proposals and price tags to compete for the contract, said Alberto Aleman, head of the Panama Canal Authority.
The bidders are:
The CANAL consortium, which includes the Spanish companies ACS Servicios, Acciona Infraestructuras and Sner Engineering of Spain, as well as the Germany-based Hochtief Construction, ICA of Mexico and Royal Haskoning of the Netherlands.
Atlantic-Pacific of Panama, which includes Bouygues Construction, Vinci Construction and Alstom of France, Bilfinger Berger of Germany, the US-based AECOM, and four Brazilian companies.
A consortium that includes the US-based Bechtel, and Taisei and Mitsubishi corporations of Japan.
# The fourth group, 'United Group for the Canal,' includes Panama's Constructora Urbana, US-based companies Tetra Tech, Montgomery Watson Harza and Heerema Group, and companies from the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Belgium.
The canal was built during 1904-1914 by the United States, which handed control over to Panama in December 1999. The largest ships that now use the canal carry up to 5,000 containers, but after the expansion supertankers and ships carrying as many as 12,000 containers will be able to sail the canal.
Some 14,000 ships, comprising 5 per cent of annual world commerce, pass through the Central American short-cut between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, avoiding the arduous and costly journey around Cape Horn, at the southern tip of South America. About 80 per cent of Panama's economy is linked to canal activity, amounting to US$6 billion dollars, or 80 per cent of Panama's GDP. The waterway's main users are the US, China and Japan.
The locks are a key part of the US$5.25 billion canal expansion project begun in September, aimed at doubling the capacity of the 80-kilometre canal connecting two oceans. Panamanian officials hope the project will be finished by 2014.
The four consortiums now have until August 2008 to present final proposals and price tags to compete for the contract, said Alberto Aleman, head of the Panama Canal Authority.
The bidders are:
The CANAL consortium, which includes the Spanish companies ACS Servicios, Acciona Infraestructuras and Sner Engineering of Spain, as well as the Germany-based Hochtief Construction, ICA of Mexico and Royal Haskoning of the Netherlands.
Atlantic-Pacific of Panama, which includes Bouygues Construction, Vinci Construction and Alstom of France, Bilfinger Berger of Germany, the US-based AECOM, and four Brazilian companies.
A consortium that includes the US-based Bechtel, and Taisei and Mitsubishi corporations of Japan.
# The fourth group, 'United Group for the Canal,' includes Panama's Constructora Urbana, US-based companies Tetra Tech, Montgomery Watson Harza and Heerema Group, and companies from the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Belgium.
The canal was built during 1904-1914 by the United States, which handed control over to Panama in December 1999. The largest ships that now use the canal carry up to 5,000 containers, but after the expansion supertankers and ships carrying as many as 12,000 containers will be able to sail the canal.
Some 14,000 ships, comprising 5 per cent of annual world commerce, pass through the Central American short-cut between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, avoiding the arduous and costly journey around Cape Horn, at the southern tip of South America. About 80 per cent of Panama's economy is linked to canal activity, amounting to US$6 billion dollars, or 80 per cent of Panama's GDP. The waterway's main users are the US, China and Japan.