October 27 - Crowley Maritime Corp.'s heavy lift barge 455 4 has delivered the first in a series of new gates for the ongoing Panama Canal expansion.
Crowley is scheduled to help transport all eight of the gates involved in the Pacific side lock expansions of the canal - a project that, when coupled with the Atlantic side expansion, will create a new lane of vessel traffic and double the waterway's capacity.
The barge 455 4 was contracted by Sarens to transport the gates from Cristóbal - a port on the Atlantic side of the canal - to Grupo Unidos por el Canal's (GUPC) construction dock, which was built to receive the gates on the canal's Pacific side.
The 105 ft (32 m) wide barge was towed by Panama Canal Authority (ACP) tugs.
The 455 4 is one in a series of eight high deck strength barges in Crowley's fleet able to handle uniform loads of up to 4,200 lbs per sq ft (20.5 tonnes per sq m).
In cooperation with Sarens and ACP, the barge is scheduled to transport another gate in October, followed by three more in both November and December of this year.
