Panama Canal lock opening date not affected by leaks

Panama Canal officials say it will take about a month to repair the leaks that were discovered during testing of the third set of locks last week.

Daily maritime news site, IHS Maritime, cited Javier Carrillo, international trade specialist for the Panama Canal Authority, as saying that the necessary repairs would not delay the planned April 2016 opening of the new locks.

“We're actually glad it happened now because we're in the testing phase - we're testing each and every component, " Carilo said, adding that potential lock repairs had been built into the schedule.

According to the news site, Port Technology.com, the Panama Canal has so far cost around US$5 billion to complete and, once completed, will accommodate vessels up to 14 000 TEUs.