Dive Brief:

• The work shortage that hit the Panama Canal during a dispute between the Panama Canal Authority and Grupo Unidos Por el Canal over cost overruns has come to a tentative end.
• The authority agreed to pay invoices from December, and in response GUPC sent some workers back onto the job. No one would disclose Thursday which parts of the multibillion-dollar project were humming again though.
• GUPC says it needs the $1.63 billion in cost overruns to be paid right now to keep going. The authority says it has to go through a claim process laid out in the two sides' contract to do so.

Dive Insight:

Jorge Quijano, who is the authority's administrator, said Zurich Insurance Group helped in getting the two sides as far as they have come. Zurich issued a $400 million performance bond for work on the expansion's new locks. The locks are about 65% finished and the rest of the project is 72% of the way to completion, even though it's all behind schedule.