Photo dated August 25, 2015 showing water leaking through cracks in the concrete of the new Cocoli Locks complex, located on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal.
The ACP confirmed that Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), the Spanish-led consortium responsible for the design and construction of the Third Set of Locks Project, has successfully completed testing of the reinforcements in sill #3 of the Cocolí locks.
The crack first appeared in August in the concrete sill between the lower and middle chamber of the Canal’s expanded Pacific Locks. GUPC later determined that water seepage was the result of insufficient steel reinforcement in the area that was subject to extreme condition testing.
In addition to reinforcing the sill where the crack appeared, GUPC also reinforced the first and second sill in the Cocoli Locks and the first three sills in the Atlantic-facing Agua Clara Locks as a preventative measure.