The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has awarded a contract to design and build a new, more powerful cutter suction dredger to Dutch yard IHC.
The new 12,000kW dredger will replace Mindi which has been in service at the Canal since 1942 and has only a 9,000kW capacity.
In a statement, the ACP said it expects delivery of the new dredger in May 2011, on time to modernise the Canal equipment required for efficient operation.
"The construction of a dredge with more pumping capacity and the ability to dredge deeper will allow us to continue to make the waterway even more navigable, safe and efficient," said ACP Vice President of Operations Manuel Benitez.
The new dredger will be built in the Netherlands and will have the capacity to dredge along the entire waterway including Gaillard Cut, which is the narrowest stretch in the Panama Canal, Gatun Lake and both Atlantic and Pacific entrances, at a depth of 25m even after the expansion concludes.
The new 12,000kW dredger will replace Mindi which has been in service at the Canal since 1942 and has only a 9,000kW capacity.
In a statement, the ACP said it expects delivery of the new dredger in May 2011, on time to modernise the Canal equipment required for efficient operation.
"The construction of a dredge with more pumping capacity and the ability to dredge deeper will allow us to continue to make the waterway even more navigable, safe and efficient," said ACP Vice President of Operations Manuel Benitez.
The new dredger will be built in the Netherlands and will have the capacity to dredge along the entire waterway including Gaillard Cut, which is the narrowest stretch in the Panama Canal, Gatun Lake and both Atlantic and Pacific entrances, at a depth of 25m even after the expansion concludes.