TOCUMEN, PANAMA--(Marketwired - Sep 4, 2013) - Aconex, provider of the world's most widely used project collaboration solutions for the infrastructure, construction, power, mining, and oil and gas industries, has been chosen by Norberto Odebrecht Construction of Brazil, one of the largest construction and engineering companies in Latin America, for the expansion of Tocumen International Airport near Panama City. The South Terminal project, started in March 2013, will add a second terminal and nearly double the capacity of the airport to 15 million passengers per year in 2016, in line with expected demand due to growth in traffic.
Odebrecht is currently using the Aconex Online Collaboration Platform to manage the subcontractor bidding process and engineering document interchange among Odebrecht, designers and the airport owner. The firm has also purchased Aconex Field for on-site inspections and issues management.
"This is a fast-track project requiring rapid system adoption, and our Aconex platform was up and running in less than a month," said Mauricio Mejía Restrepo, infrastructure engineering manager at Odebrecht. "We're able to upload bid packages and other project documents to the system just once and then update them with addenda as needed -- rather than assembling and reloading them with each new request. Our client appreciates receiving project updates immediately on the system rather than on CDs delivered by mail, and we have confirmation that the updates were transmitted. All information is safe in the cloud, so there's no risk of losing data from a hard drive on a PC. And with the cloud, there's no software to install and maintain, and no hardware to provision."
Security and Accountability
According to Mejía, approximately 125 active users from five different organizations are now on the Aconex platform, which makes it easy to find and share documents, drawings and correspondence because all information is centralized in one secure and neutral location. The Aconex platform provides document version control and a complete audit trail of project activities to ensure transparency and accountability for the project team and the owner.
With two runways, Tocumen International Airport is already one of the highest-traffic airports in Central America. The South Terminal project will add 80,000 square meters and 20 new boarding gates to the airport, bringing the total to 54 gates, in addition to six remote boarding locations that already exist. The project will also include immigration and customs areas, commercial and retail space, parking lots, access roads, and bridges.
Odebrecht expects to spend the first two years of the four-year project preparing the design and engineering specifications; diverting a river and building a canal to make room for the new terminal; constructing the earthworks, including access roads and bridges; building concrete structures for the new terminal; and starting the external facade installation. The last two years will be focused on finishing the facade and roof; baggage handling and migration systems; mechanical, electrical and plumbing installations; and control tower construction.
"The South Terminal at Tocumen is an important infrastructure project and a key win in Latin America for us," said Frank Kopas, general manager of the Americas at Aconex. "It builds on our experience with other airport projects -- such as Dubai, El Dorado, New Delhi, and Saint Helena, to name a few -- as well as our success in Panama. We're pleased to be working with Odebrecht, and we look forward to helping the team meet an aggressive schedule while delivering a high-quality project."
About Aconex
Aconex provides the world's most widely used Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for managing information, processes and people throughout the lifecycle of construction and engineering projects across multiple industries. The Aconex suite of solutions -- secure, neutral and centralized -- enables owners, contractors and project managers to reduce the cost and risk inherent in capital projects of all sizes and improve efficiency, productivity and accountability for all project participants. Aconex has served projects valued at more than US$800 billion, with over 430,000 users. Clients include nine of the world's top ten engineering, procurement and construction (EPC/EPCM) firms, 23 of the 25 largest global design firms, and nearly all Fortune 500 construction and engineering firms. For more information and examples of Aconex in action, see www.aconex.com. Follow Aconex on Twitter at @aconex and on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/aconex.
Contact Information:
Aconex Contact:
Tod Bottari
Communications Director
(650) 731-3309