Planning and Design of the Port of Balboa Phase 4 Expansion, Balboa, Panama

The Port of Balboa, the only container port at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal, has been reconfigured by the Panama Ports Company and transformed into a major world-class container port. The latest expansion, $300 million in civil works, responded to increasing container traffic and increased the size of the existing 95-year-old port threefold. During previous port expansion projects, many of the original marine structures were upgraded and incorporated into the new port facilities. This recent expansion converted previously unused water and land areas into 25 hectares of new container yard and added a new 443-meter super post-Panamax berth. The 3-1/2-year development schedule — combined with new construction at a busy, existing port - created many constraints. The new site area was partitioned and a program developed that allowed a sequenced hand-over of the works to accommodate the operator's needs. Integrating existing facilities and features into the new construction and unknown subsurface conditions provided further challenges. The project rerouted two drainage canals, removed an island in the navigation basin, extended an existing concrete wharf; constructed a wharf for super post-Panamax ships, a rock dike/link structure, and a 4-hectare storage area for empty containers; and developed almost 7,000TEUs of ground slots, including 1,600 TEUs of reefer slots. Along the way, the project dredged and disposed of millions of cubic meters of material and placed millions more, completed the structural upgrade of an old concrete pier, and made use of a number of different soil compaction techniques.