For the fiscal year ending September 2018, the authorities foresee that the cargo that will transit through the Canal will reach 431 million tons, 7% more than in the previous period.
According to the Panama Canal Authority, the main reasons for the predicted growth in cargo passing through its facilities are the improvement registered in international prices of raw materials and the increase in demand from emerging economies.
The approved agreements in maritime and air transport provide the basis for establishing direct air routes and will allow vessels flying the Panamanian flag to receive preferential treatment in Chinese ports.
Panamanian authorities ratified the transport agreements with the Asian country, which includes the civil air transport agreement, through which both countries laid the foundations to establish direct routes, opening space to establish commercial or cargo flights between both countries.
Vessels sailing under the Panamanian flag will receive benefits in port tariffs and preferential treatment in ports in the People's Republic of China.
From a statement issued by the Presidency of Panama:
Panama reaffirms its leadership in merchant marine matters by receiving the status of "Most Favored Nation", with which vessels under their registry will receive benefits in port tariffs and preferential treatment in ports in the People's Republic of China.
A new service connects the Guatemalan port with the east coast of the United States, Europe and the Mediterranean, through the port of Caucedo, in the Dominican Republic.
From a statement issued by Agexport:
Derived from the need of the Guatemalan export sector to transport goods in a reduced time of four days, in a more efficient manner, to the Caribbean market, the country's logistics chain has a new service that connects to the port of Santo Tomás de Castilla in the Atlantic with the East Coast of the United States, Europe and the Mediterranean through the port of Caucedo, in the Dominican Republic.
The Mexican company Transportes Marítimos Lamol will start operating the US - Nicaragua route, passing through the Escondido River to get to the Port of Arlen Siu, in the south-central part of the country.
The new route for TML Liners will be used by ships carrying 80 containers with a capacity of 3000 tons of cargo, which will set sail from Nicaragua to the United States, making a stop in Panama.
The threat of paralyzing the work of the third set of locks of the Panama Canal is keeping maritime and port operators around the world on tenterhooks.
The conflict between the construction consortium (GUPC) headed by the Spanish Sacyr and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), which originated over the demand for the first payment of $1.6 billion in cost overruns and the ACP's rejection of that claim, threatens to extend the opening of the expanded waterway, through which 5% of the world's maritime cargo passes, to beyond 2015.
The National Port Company has announced the commissioning of a ship with a capacity for 3,500 tons of cargo, to cover shipping routes connecting the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance.
The first ship by the Nicaraguan shipping company will be in service three months after repairs have been completed, at a cost of $1.5 million. A second freighter will join the first within one year.