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Gateway Glance: Panama By Joe Zelasney The Panamanian maritime industry represents 20 percent of the Gross Domestic Product of Panama and is the fastest growing sector in the national economy. The Panamanian port system is made up of 18 ports, however, a few large international ports on either side of the Panama Canal account for the vast majority of the country’s port throughput. Due to the strategic location of the Panama Canal, Panama has grown to become the largest transshipment center in Latin America. Today the Canal serves 144 trade routes, connecting points across the globe. PANAMA CANAL: Visionaries dreamed of one day creating a passageway from the Atlantic to Pacific, thus avoiding the 12,000 mile journey around the tip of South America. Construction on the Panama Canal began in 1880 under French leadership, but was project was later abandoned. The canal was ultimately completed by the United States in August of 1914. The Panama Canal extends 48 miles from Panama City on the Pacific Ocean to Colon on the Caribbean Sea. The mountainous Panamanian Isthmus is traversed through a series of interconnecting canals, locks and reservoirs. The canal is widely considered one of the world’s greatest engineering achievements. In fiscal year 2008, 14,702 vessels passed through the waterway carrying a total 309.6 million Panama Canal/Universal Measurement System (PC/UMS) tons. Commercial transportation activities through the Canal represent approximately five percent of world trade by weight. The canal operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Container cargo is the largest and fastest growing segment of canal traffic in terms of vessel transits and tonnage. Approximately 70 percent of trade that transits the Canal is either destined for, or originated in the US. Other major Canal users include: China, Chile, Japan and South Korea. Third-lock Expansion: An enlargement scheme that will allow the Canal to handle a greater number of transits and larger ships has been approved by the government of Panama. The proposal to expand the Canal was approved in a national referendum with approximately 80 percent of Panamanians voting in favor of expansion on October 22, 2006. The estimated cost of the project is $5.25 billion. The project is designed to allow for an anticipated growth in traffic from 280 million PC/UMS tons in 2005 to nearly 510 million PC/UMS tons in 2025; the expanded canal will have a maximum sustainable capacity of approximately 600 million PC/UMS tons per year. Tolls will continue to be calculated based on vessel tonnage, and will not depend on the locks used. The lock-expansion project is scheduled for completion in 2014, the 100th anniversary of the Panama Canal. PANMANIAN PORTS: The Panama Ports Company (PPC) manages ports at either end of the Panama Canal, the Port of Balboa and the Port of Cristobal. A subsidiary of the Hutchison Port Holdings Group (HPH), the PPC operates by concession granted by the government of Panama in 1997. The Port of Balboa is located on the Pacific coast of Panama, it handles one third of all cargo moving through Panama’s ports. The port covers 182 hectares and contains four berths for containers and two multi-purpose berths. In total, the berths are over 2 thousand meters long with quayside depths of 15 meters. The Port has 18 super post-Panamax and Panamax cranes and 44 gantry cranes. In 2008 the port handled nearly 2.2 million containers. The Port of Cristobal is located on the Caribbean coast of Panama. The Port covers an area of 143 hectares and contains two container berths and seven multi-purpose berths. The berths have a combined length of 3750 meters and depths ranging from 12 to 14 meters. The Port of Colon is on the Caribbean coast of Panama. The port is comprised of two independently operated terminals, the Manzanillo International Terminal, operated by SSA Marine and the Colon Container Terminal, a subsidiary of Evergreen Group. PANAMA RAILROAD: In Panama the ‘Inter-Oceanic Railroad’ was completed in 1855, connecting Panama City on the Pacific to Colon on the Caribbean. In 1998, the government of Panama turned over control of the state run railroad to the private Panama Canal Railway Company, a joint venture between the Kansas City Southern Railroad and privately held Lanigan Holdings, LLC. In 2000 and 2001 a large project upgraded the railway to handle large shipping containers. Today the railroad complements the Panama Canal in cargo transport. The line is single track with some strategically placed sections of double track.	In This Issue Up Front News, Trends & Analysis New Items Trade Tools: How Uncle Sam helps exporters Capital Watch: Larger issues loom behind federal transport agendas Supply Chain Chris Steele: Development opportunities north and south of the border Compliance Corner: Denied Party Screening Make sure you comply... comprehensively and timely Tech Trends Product Review: Invoicing and Auditing solutions Commentary David Bennett: Early signs of trouble Gateway Glance Panama China The Port Community Game Changer: Expansion of the Panama Canal will reshape global trade patterns All-weather ports are “all-in” Breakbulk Quarterly: East Coast - Thinking outside the box Breakbulk Quarterly: Brighter outlook for West Coast breakbulk in 2010 The Shipping Environment Casualties Navy tanker breaks loose, container crane topples, longshoreman dies at Virginia port ... and much more Final Say Getting TIGER by the tail
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Gateway Glance: Panama