Maintenance work on Panama Canal locks complete
The Panama Canal Authority on Monday said scheduled maintenance work in four of the lock gates of the west chamber in the Gat'n Locks was completed over the weekend.
The work, which began Aug. 15 and was completed Sunday, required the lock chambers to be drained. The lock gates and valves also underwent a corrosion protection process, the authority said in a release.
Canal customers are informed of maintenance work up to a year in advance to minimize delays and the impact to vessel transit service. Each set of locks is named after the city in which it was constructed: Gat'n on the Atlantic side, and Pedro Miguel and Miraflores on the Pacific). The lock chambers are 33.5 meters wide and 304.8 meters long.