Dredging International also confirmed that the contract is worth some US$177.5m and will require a variety of specialised plant including oceangoing heavy rock cutter suction dredgers, trailing hopper dredgers, large backhoe dredgers, and very advanced self propelled pontoons for drilling and blasting.

The contract calls for the widening and deepening of the existing canal, as well as the construction of the Pacific entrance and south approach channel to the third set of locks on the Panama Canal. More specifically, a 14.2km stretch of the canal will be widened to a minimum breadth of 225m and a minimum depth of 15.1m.

Dredging International will remove a total of 9.07 million m³ of material. The hard rock encountered will be drilled and blasted. The Panama canal subsoil is notoriously hard, as is well known from its construction history.