Page 33: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 2019)

HISTORY THE PANAMA CANAL fuel costs due to IMO2020 could prompt (as termed by the eminent geography be 400,000 TEUs in 2014. bound from the Gulf of Mexico to the 1.2 million TEUs inbound to the U.S. professor Jean-Paul Rodrigue) as a link Panama Canal Authority, now deriv- U.S. West Coast. to swing back to West Coast discharge, for trans-shipping containers between ing a large proportion of its toll revenues Any look at history always begs the with shorter transit times from Asian Colon (on the Atlantic side) and Balboa from the container trades ($2.5 billion question of what’s ahead. The ACP told ports. (on the Paci? c). total in 2018, of which 159 mm out of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News

Trans-shipment terminals on both the In 1998, just prior to the handover of total 441 mm Panama Canal Universal that “The Panama Canal, always consid-

Atlantic and Paci? c sides have grown the Canal to the Panamanians, the U.S. Measurement System or PC/UMS tons, ering the competitiveness of the water- into mega cargo handlers; Hutchinson based Kansas City Southern railroad were from container vessels), has seen way, included the possibility of a Fourth

Whampoa, through its Panama Ports (NYSE- “KSU”) along with Mi-Jack, a economics and change with the times. In Set of Locks in designing the Third Set of

Company (both sides) and SSA Marine leading producer of rubber tired gantry 1965, in the already waning glory days Locks, should additional access later be (Atlantic side), are leading terminal cranes (RTGs) and provider of intermo- of its merchant marine, U.S. ? agged ves- required due to demand from the global operators. Trans-shipments along the dal terminal services to the major rail- sels transits numbered 1678; decades lat- maritime industry to grow further. If this coasts were 7 million TEUs in 2017, ac- roads ( through what is now called ITS er, 126 U.S. registered vessels made the need does arise, the Panama Canal will cording to Georgia Tech Panama Logis- Conglobal ), was granted a 50 year con- transit in 2018. But old patterns linger. conduct in-depth analyses of current and tic Innovation and Research Center. The cession to operate the railroad, following In early 2017, the ? rst tug barge transit future demand, as well as water sources. railroad across the Isthmus, which had an investment of $80 million. Railroad through the widened Canal saw New Currently, the Panama Canal has no im- been effectively abandoned, has been container traf? c across the Isthmus, a Orleans-based Tradewinds Towing’s tug mediate plans to execute a fourth set of rekindled, part of a “Logistics Platform” closely guarded number, was reported to Hollywood pulling a beamy barge west- locks.”

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