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Reuters) – The Panama Canal has authorized the opening of a bidding process for a new pipeline that will transport liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) across the interoceanic waterway, its authority said on Friday.
Since Panama’s Supreme Court last year ruled the return of areas near the canal to its administration, the planning of projects to expand its trans-shipment and storage capacity has accelerated.
The pipeline is set to allow LPG vessels to discharge at one end of the canal, while other tankers can pick up the cargo at the other end, reducing traffic of vessels through the waterway. Japan’s purchases of U.S. LPG will be helped by the project, the canal’s head Ricaurte Vasquez said last month.
The canal will seek the participation of companies technically and commercially qualified to execute the pipeline’s development, and eventually to operate it, it said in a release.
“This complementary activity will be incorporated into the sustainable development of the Panama Canal’s West Bank route, which includes activities and alternatives to transporting products by sea,” it added in the release.
Following approval by the board of directors, bids will begin to be received in the coming months, the canal’s authority told Reuters.
Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Leslie Adler and Marguerita Choy
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