17 October 2011
As the 2014 opening of the revamped Panama Canal draws closer, the Panama Canal Authority is signing a flurry of agreements with ports up and down the U.S. East Coast, including the Port of Miami and Port Everglades.
Though many ports are vying to be the destination of choice for the massive cargo ships that will soon be coming through the canal, a clear winner may not arise for some time.
Most recently Port Everglades and the authority renewed an agreement to partner on advertising and marketing, research and data exchange, technical projects and personnel trading, according to the bilingual newspaper the Bulletin Panama.
At the same time, the canal’s administrations signed similar agreements with ports at New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Corpus Christi and Freeport, TX.
The aim seems to be to boost “trade along the all-water route between Asia and the U.S. Gulf coast, via the [Panama] canal,” according to Port Strategy.
The Panama Canal has agreements with both major South Florida ports, though both are working furiously to build out their infrastructure to be able to handle the massive post-Panamax ships that will be coming through the canal once re-opened. The Port of Miami, for example, is spending nearly $1 billion to dredge Biscayne Bay and dig a truck tunnel to keep cargo traffic off downtown roads.
The Port of Miami is to resign its agreement, first inked in 2005, later this month is to renew its agreement with the Panama Canal Authority when Administrator Alberto Alemán Zubieta visits South Florida. The move still leaves the question of which ports post-Panamax ships will call after 2014.
“The analogy I give people is Miami International Airport and the Fort Lauderdale airport,” said Husein Cumber, executive vice president for corporate development for Florida East Coast Railway. “You have enough business to have two airports that have found their niche and both have tremendous growth potential.”
The biggest opportunity for east coast ports, he added, is to increase their trade with Asia.