PANAMA's construction workers have ended their nationwide strike, allowing the expansion of the canal to continue after two week's delay, Reuters reports.

"Work has partially resumed today. It is estimated staff as a whole will gradually return in the coming days," said Grupo Unidos por el Canal, the consortium expanding the Panama Canal.

The consortium, led by Spain's Sacyr and Italy's Salini Impreglio, declined to say whether the December 2015 completion date would be delayed.

The consortium was itself embroiled in a dispute about cost overruns with the canal authority, which shut down canal work for several weeks, an issue still to be adjudicated by an international arbitration panel.