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Fri March 29 2024

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Opening date set for Panama Canal expansion

24 Mar 16 The Panama Canal Expansion will be officially inaugurated on 26 June.

the new training facility
the new training facility

The programme is currently 97% complete. Final testing will be conducting in the following weeks.

The announcement was made this morning during the inauguration ceremony of a training facility, which will provide additional hands-on experience to pilots and tugboat captains operating in the expanded canal.

"The dream of Expansion will become a reality when we inaugurate the biggest infrastructure project in the history of the Canal and the country of Panama," said board member Jorge Quijano.

The 35.3-acre training facility features two lakes connected by a channel modelled after the Canal's Culebra Cut. The new facility features docking bays, replicas of the new and existing locks, gates, and chambers, all at a 1:25 scale.

The facility is equipped with a number of scale model Panama Canal tugboats, as well as ships built in France at Port Revel, including a container ship. In addition, a liquid natural gas (LNG) ship will be delivered by September 2016.

The facility features wave and wind generators to provide a realistic, hands-on training experience for Canal pilots and tugboat captains to prepare them for the opening of the expanded waterway.

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MPU
MPU

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