Final Gate for New Pacific Locks Transits Panama Canal

All gates belonging to the new locks being added within the Panama Canal Expansion in the Pacific side have been transferred.

The last gate that transited the canal on Thursday completes the transfer of the eight gates to the Pacific construction side.

The transits began on October 22 to move all eight gates through the waterway aboard a barge from the Atlantic temporary dock to the Pacific, assisted by Panama Canal tugs.

This last gate is 31.9 meters high, 57 meters long and 8 meters wide, weighing 4,200 tons. It is among the heaviest of all gates.

 The new locks will have 16 rolling gates, eight in the Pacific and eight in the Atlantic. With this last transit, all gates will be in the new locks ready for installation during the next couple of months, Panama Canal Authority said.

 Since August 2013, the gates have been arriving in staggered shipments from Italy on a Post-Panamax vessel to a temporary dock in the Atlantic side. The last shipment arrived in November 2014.

 The Panama Canal Expansion is 82 percent complete.

It consists of the construction of a third lane of traffic allowing the passage of bigger vessels, which will double the Canal’s capacity and have an important impact on world maritime trade.