The Panama Canal Authority (PCA) and Grupo Unidos po el Canal (GUPC), the design-construction consortium responsible for the bulk of the Panama Canal expansion, remain at odds this week, with the consortium looking to collect additional funds for what it says are cost overruns on the project.

Should the dispute lead to the contractor halting work, as it has threatened, PCA said it would be protected and has the funds and financing to continue the work on its own and ensure the project is completed – and that mechanisms and guarantees in the contract allow it to do so. The two parties could also end up before a dispute board and then in arbitration should an agreement on the cost differences not be reached.

While considerable work remains, at the end of 2013 the entire Panama Canal expansion project was 72 percent complete, with design and construction of the third set of locks being 66 percent complete, according to the Canal expansion website, micanaldepanama.com/expansion.

PCA said regardless of how the dispute turns out, it does not anticipate delays. That would mean the Canal would be completed by mid-2015, followed by a series of tests and finally opening to traffic in the fourth quarter of 2015.

The PCA reached out to the U.S. Grains Council about the dispute over the past two weeks, and the Council will continue monitoring the situation. PCA noted that additional information can be found at micanaldepanama.com/expansion/faq.

The project will create a new lane of traffic along the Canal thanks to the third set of locks, which will double capacity and allow Post-Panamax vessels to transit through the Canal.

The Panama Canal has experienced a strong start to the grain shipping season, with dry bulkers registering record grain cargoes during the first two months of the current fiscal year. For all cargo, levels recorded in October and November 2013 were the highest since 2011.