Panama Canal says progress being made in talks with GUPC

Appearing before Panama’s National Assembly on Tuesday, ACP administrator Jorge Quijano said that progress had been made in the negotiations GUPC and both parties have agreed upon 14 of the 15 points in discussion to resolve the crisis of the third set of locks construction which is paralyzed since 5 February.

However, that does not mean “we have been successful until we reach a full agreement in a document that we both sign,” he said.

The ACP expects to sign an accord before 18 February “Otherwise we would have to make a hostile move,” said Quijano in reference to the possibility of terminating the contract, which obviously is not the best option as it could represent years of litigations and delays.

Meanwhile, the ACP continues to consider alternatives such as Plan B which would see it take over the works and continue with the sub-contractors. “We are not afraid of doing it,” said Quijano, who added that the probable date for concluding the expansion is now December 2015.

Quijano has also asked GUPC to get all the gates in Panama by December this year. Four gates have been already delivered, four are waiting to be transported to Panama and four more are being assembled in Cimolai, Italy, of a total of 16 gates.