monday, march 11, 2013
Dredging the Panama Canal's Culebra Cut
When the $5.25 billion Third Lane Expansion of the Panama canal is complete in 2015, enormous post-Panamax cargo vessels will begin transiting the historic waterway. As a result, a large portion of the project has involved widening and deepening the navigation channel.Recently the dredging operations to accomplish this on the famed Culebra Cut were concluded. This 14-kilometer passage is narrowest section of the canal and was one of the most difficult aspects of the original work on the waterway over a century ago.
My story on this milestone, Panama Canal Finishes Difficult Dredging is in this week's issue of Engineering News-Record.
thursday, october 11, 2012
Panama Canal Third Lane Expansion
The $5.2 billion Third Lane Expansion of the Panama Canal just passed its fifth anniversary and work is just about halfway completed. The race is on to meet the completion deadline which has been pushed back to 2015.To date, the bulk of the construction on the massive new locks has involved placing the more than 5 million cubic meters of high-quality concrete the job requires. Interestingly, this process is very similar to the way engineers chose to construct the original locks for the waterway more than a century ago.
My detailed update on the state of the expansion, Panama Canal: Full Tilt in the Tropics can be found in this week's issue of the British construction magazine, New Civil Engineer.
friday, august 24, 2012
Panama Canal Third Lane Expansion
The contractor building the locks for the Panama Canal’s Third Lane Expansion has filed a claim against the Panama Canal Authority, asking to increase the price of the $3.18-billion contract by more than 18%.The work on the massive new locks located at each entrance of the historic waterway is being done by Grupos Unidos por El Canal (or Grupo UPC). The international consortium's effort have already been hampered by delays that are projected to push back the opening date of the new works by more than six months. Officials with the Panama Canal Authority say they are evaluating the claim which pushes the cost of the project significantly above the $3.48 billion allocated cost for the work.
My story on the contractor's claim, Panama Canal Contractor Files $573-Million Claim, is in this week's issue of Engineering News-Record.
friday, august 24, 2012
Belo Monte Hydroelectric Project
Work on the $16 billion Belo Monte hydroelectric project in the Brazilian Amazon was halted last week with a ruling by a federal judge that the project's licenses were obtained improperly. Officials with the consortium building the dam, Norte Energia, said they planned to appeal to the country’s Supreme Court.On Aug. 14, Judge Souza Prudente found that the required consultations with indigenous groups were done by federal agencies rather than the Brazilian government itself making them invalid. Norte Energia said that while they were confident the ruling would be reversed, an overlong delay would limit the amount of work possible before the rainy season.
My story on the ruling, Brazilian Court Halts Belo Monte Dam Construction, is in this week's issue of Engineering News-Record.
thursday, july 19, 2012
The Panama Canal Third Lane Expansion
The construction of the new locks for the Panama Canal Third Lane Expansion will require more than 5 million cubic meters of concrete. The sheer volume of this material and the specific geotechnical and climactic challenges require specialized equipment. Add to that the logistical issues posed by the limited amount of space on the jobsite and it gets even more complicated.To handle it an array of specialized equipment has been employed, from massive ice machines that cool the concrete mix to enormous tower cranes that transport it in bulk to the specific areas of placement. A fleet of pumper trucks and telescopic conveyer cranes are necessary as well.
My story, Panama's Concrete Challenge Calls for Custom Equipment, is in this week's issue of Engineering News-Record.
thursday, july 19, 2012
Seismic Risk and The Panama Canal
While Panama isn't typically associated with earthquakes, the $5.2 billion effort to construct a new set of locks for the country's world-famous canal isn't taking any chances. Researchers found evidence of a fault line almost on top of the site of the new Pacific locks that once produced a temblor of 7 magnitude or greater.As a result, the standards for the construction of the new locks were substantially increased due to the necessity for the structures to not simply survive such a catastrophe, but emerge unscathed and in working order.
My story, A Shaky History in Panama, is in this week's issue of Engineering News-Record magazine.
monday, may 28, 2012
The Panama City Metro
The Panamanian government has undertaken an ambitious $1.8-billion subway/elevated train project that is expected to revolutionize public transportation in the country's capital city. The Panama Metro project is a a 14-kilometer light-rail line that will be the first of its kind in Central America when it is completed in 2014.The project, launched in late 2010, is being built by LÃnea Uno, that includes Brazil's Norberto Odebrecht and Spanish company Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC). Alstom will provide the 19 three-car train sets as well as electro-mechanical equipment on a turnkey basis.
Almost seven kilometers of the line will be excavated by two earth-pressure-balanced tunnel-boring machines, each 9.77 meters in diameter. More than five kilometers of elevated guideway will be built as well. read more
monday, april 30, 2012
2012 Panama Canal Congress
Earlier this month, approximately 550 engineers and construction experts descended on Panama City, Panama for a three-day symposium on building mega-projects.The congress was hosted the Panama Canal Authority and the centerpiece of the event was the progress on the $5.2 billion Third Lane Expansion of the historic waterway. A key subject of that was the recently-announced delays to that effort caused by difficulties in producing the high-quality concrete the effort demands.
The story on the event I contributed to, Global Talent Converges on Panama Canal, is in this week's issue of Engineering News-Record.
monday, april 16, 2012
Panama Canal Third Lane Expansion
The $3.25-billion effort to build massive new locks on both entrances of the Panama Canal has been delayed by six months beyond the previously announced schedule due to problems with the concrete.The international consortium handling the lock's construction, Grupos Unidos por El Canal, notified the Panama Canal Authority of the new altered schedule to complete the $3.5 billion locks earlier this month.
The delay is attributed to problems with the concrete mix, which didn't meet the 100-year standard set by the ACP.
My story on the delay, Panama Canal Expansion Falls Six Months Behind Schedule, is in this week's issue of Engineering News-Record.
read more
thursday, march 01, 2012
Brazil Airports
Brazil awarded operating concessions for three of the country's largest airports to a trio of international consortiums. The partial privatization of the facilities is part of a larger push to upgrade the country's critical transportation infrastructure in anticipation of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics that will be held in Brazil.The trio of contracts netted Brazil $14.3 billion—almost three and a half times the minimum set by the government. All include substantial upgrades to São Paulo’s Guarulhos airport, Viracopos Airport in Campinas and President Juscelino Kubitschek Airport in Brasilia.
My story on the auction, Brazil Privatizes Three Major Airports, is in this week's issue of Engineering News-Record.
read more
thursday, march 01, 2012
Peruvian Hydroelectric Dams
In the past six months a trio of Brazilian-backed hydroelectric dams planned for the Peruvian Amazon have stalled raising questions about the prospects for such projects in the future.The projects -- the 2,000-MW Inambari Dam, the 1,278-MW Tambo-40 dam and the 2,000-MW Pakitzapango Dam -- were strongly opposed by indigenous groups who organized numerous protests against them, several of which turned violent.
The projects were part of a bilateral pact between Peru and Brazil agreed to last year for the construction of dams in the Andean nation that would send power to it's eastern neighbor. My story on the situation, Brazil's Peruvian Hydroelectric Plans Meet Resistance, is in this week's issue of Engineering News-Record.
read more
monday, january 30, 2012
Rio de Janeiro Building Collapse
At 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 25 a 20-story building in the historic center of Rio de Janeiro suddenly collapsed crushing two smaller structures. A total of 17 people died in the accident and authorities say five others remain missing.The Liberty Building was a 70-year-old structure that recently had undergone at least two remodeling projects the city says were never properly approved. The building operators and the company who performed the renovations say no such approval is necessary.
An investigation by the Brazilian Federal police and the agency overseeing building construction in Rio are conducting inquiries into the cause of the accident.
My story on the collapse, Rio Officials Probe Cause of Fatal Building Collapse, is in the current edition of Engineering-News Record.