By Michael McDonald

(Bloomberg) — The April opening of Panama’s $5.3 billion expanded canal, initially set for 2014, could possibly be delayed additional relying on repairs to leaks found within the new locks throughout testing because the waterway ends a yr of report shipments, administrator Jorge Quijano stated.

The contractor constructing the brand new locks is predicted to file a report throughout the subsequent three weeks on the restore time line and any delay within the opening “shouldn’t be much if there is one,” Quijano stated in a cellphone interview on Thursday. Shipments by way of the canal may rise to 360 million tons in 2017, the primary full yr of the expanded canal’s operation, after reaching a report 340.8 million tons within the fiscal yr ending Sept. 30, he stated.

“Even though there is talk that China isn’t very strong, with 6 percent growth, it’s a large exporter and the United States continues to be a large importer,” Quijano stated.

LNG Shipments

The enlargement, which has spurred a collection of port and infrastructure upgrades all through the Caribbean and the U.S. japanese seaboard, will make room for vessels with the capability to hold as many as 12,600 containers, nearly thrice what the present locks allow. The enlargement can even facilitate tankers carrying shipments of liquefied pure gasoline.

The canal mission, accredited by voters in a 2006 referendum, has helped Panama’s $46 billion financial system obtain among the highest development charges on this planet in recent times. Gross home product will develop 6 p.c this yr, in comparison with a contraction of 0.3 p.c for Latin America and the Caribbean as an entire, in response to the International Monetary Fund. Total transits by way of the canal fell 3.1 p.c in September from a yr earlier, the primary year-on-year decline since January.

Nearly $3 billion in value overruns claimed by contractors are prone to be lowered as soon as the claims course of is full, Quijano stated. The group constructing the enlargement received a $234 million ruling final yr after claiming $463 million final yr after for delays in execution of the contract.

The Canal Authority bought $450 million in world bonds final month to fund a brand new bridge spanning the Atlantic Ocean aspect of the waterway, a mission anticipated to be completed in mid-2017.

©2015 Bloomberg News

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