After more than eight years of construction, the inauguration of the third set of locks is scheduled on Sunday, June 26th, announced the administrator of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), Jorge Luis Quijano.
The inauguration will host 70 leaders of different countries, including the US President, Barack Obama. Such important announcement was made during the opening of another important facility, the new Maneuver Training Center.
The Maneuver Training Center construction began on 20 February of 2015 and already in November the first tug boats were used in the simulations. The center was built by the ACP to train pilots to operate vessels through the new part of the Canal. “The new center is one of its kind in the world”, said Quijano.
The Postpanamax vessels, also denominated in the ACP as Neopanamax, are the megaships that can carry up to 13,200 TEU (20-foot long), almost 3 times of present volume.
The Maneuver center was built at 1:25 scale, i.e. the ships transiting the locks are 25 times larger than those used in the center. It is located on the area of 8 hectares right next to the Summit Municipal Park and cost $8 million.
