Cargo ships sail towards the Pacific Ocean after transit though the Panama Canal, in Panama City, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
HOUSTON: The Panama Canal Authority may double in coming years the number of containers that move through the commercial waterway that links the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, the canal’s chief tells the maritime conference.
The authority, which has an US$8bil investment plan, is putting in place a water conservation strategy following a severe drought that forced ships between late 2023 and early 2024 to take alternative routes between the United States and Asia.
As part of that, it is encouraging shippers to consolidate cargoes so less water is used for vessels to pass, particularly container ships, canal chief Ricaurte Vasquez said at the Houston International Maritime Conference.
The canal is also planning to use its west bank lands to expand Panama’s cargo transfer capacity, which allows shippers to offload containers, move them via rail, truck or vessel, and then reload them onto ships, he said.
That would allow the canal to move at least an additional five million containers per year by 2045, from the current 8.3 million containers, Vasquez said.
Container ships are its most important business segment. — Reuters
