MAXAM
MAXAM has carried out more than 3500 blasts in this historic project which will improve global maritime trade
2016.10.14
Press room - News - MAXAM has carried out more than 3500 blasts in this historic project which will improve global maritime trade
Conference on the role of the blasting operations carried out by MAXAM in the Panama Canal expansion project, organised along with the ETSIME (Technical School of Mining and Energy Engineers) of the UPM (Madrid Polytechnic University)
Attendees at the conference held on the 6th of October at Gómez Pardo Foundation had the opportunity to see first-hand the achievements and the technical details of the blasting operations carried out by MAXAM in the expansion of the Panama Canal, through which over 5% of world trade passes. The conference started with gratitude for attendees expressed by the Director of Technical Services at MAXAM, Manuel López Cano, the Director of the ETSIME, José Luis Parra, and the Chair of the School, José Ángel Sanchidrián, who noted that “underwater blasting has a great future; applying expansive energy optimally in work such as the expansion of the Panama Canal can achieve savings in many parts of the process. Moreover, MAXAM has achieved it without any accidents or incidents”. The Company worked on this project from April 2009 to just a few weeks before its inauguration on 26th June. In total, it has collaborated in almost 3500 blasts in the expansion of the third set of locks (width and depth has increased by 21.5 m and 5.3 m respectively, and length has increased 107 m up to the current 427 m) and in the deepening of the access channel from the Pacific Ocean, as well as in Gatún Lake and Borinquen Dam.
Following the introduction to the conference, Manuel López Cano went over the global importance of this infrastructure which is critical for trade, focusing particularly on the high environmental and safety standards of the project, which are “the highest and most stringent in the world”. The expansion allows the transit of larger ships along the 80 km of the Canal. These new Post-Panamax ships are 366 m long, 49 m wide and 15 m deep, and also have greater cargo capacity, carrying up to 12,000 containers, compared to the previous figure of 4500.
After the break, the MAXAM Civil Explosives Technical Office Engineer, Paulo Couceiro, explained to attendees the technical aspects of the blasting operations carried out by the Company, the technology used –all of which was researched and developed in-house– and the advanced safety systems employed in all operations, “the technical requirements we have had to meet in Panama have been the most demanding yet, meaning we have had to overcome the most stringent controls and carry out the entire blast process within the limits established by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP)”.
Alejandro Tesouro, currently the technical engineer of MAXAM and a worker of FCC throughout the expansion project, provided his vision and experience from a customer perspective: "MAXAM was able to outperform all the blasting companies who work with us thanks to its control, safety aspects, technology and ability to resolve ad hoc problems".
Jesús Ángel Pascual, MAXAM Civil Explosives Technical Manager, along with Daguang Huang and Chuande Guo, MAXAM Technical Office Engineers, then focused their intervention on the results of the blasting operations carried out by MAXAM. "Allowing the passage of ships of up to three times more capacity will prevent the emission of over 160 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, and will also allow the passage of passenger ships, ships carrying bulk cargo and gas tankers, which was not previously possible, thus meeting the growing demand generated by an increasingly global world", said Jesús Ángel Pascual.
Ángel Cámara, Subdirector of Relations with Businesses of the ETSIME, rounded off the day by stressing the fundamental role which MAXAM has played in one of the most important civil engineering projects ever, and pointed out that “explosives and the use of expansive energy is fundamental in order to understand the world as we see it today. Without them, the great advances of the 19th, 20th and 21st century, including the Panama Canal, would not have been possible."
MAXAM – www.maxam.net
MAXAM is an industrial and services group which carries out its activity on a global level, developing, manufacturing and marketing blasting solutions for mining, quarries and infrastructure; cartridges and powder for recreational hunting and products and services for the defence sector. It also provides critical raw materials for nitro-chemical activities, such as energetic nitrocellulose and ammonium nitrate, both for internal use by MAXAM and for sale to external third parties.
MAXAM, founded by Alfred Nobel in 1872, ended financial year 2015 with turnover amounting to 1.115 billion euros. Its activity covers leading mining areas all around the world, with manufacture facilities in more than 45 countries and sales in over 100 countries on all five continents, and over 6500 employees.
For further details:
Lucas Ferreira
MAXAM
Communication Department
91 722 01 00
lferreira@maxam.net
Louis Trollope
MAXAM
Communications Technician
91 722 01 00
ltrollope@maxam.net
