According to the Panama Logistics News, the first postpanamax dredge in the world, Charles Darwin, is in Panama since early April 2012 dredging the navigation channel of the Atlantic entrance of the Panama Canal.
Darwin’s mission is to broaden and deepen the navigation channel and to perform the maneuverability tests that the postpanamax will navigate entering from the Atlantic.
The dredge will work 24 hours a day, removing the 6.2 million cubic meters of material on the 9.8 km navigation channel providing access to new Atlantic locks.
With a maximum load capacity of 30,500 cubic meters, it is expected to finish the job in eight weeks.
This dredger is 183 meters in length and 40 meters wide, it has two arms with dredging suction of 345 tons each.
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Dredging Today Staff, April 24, 2012;