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Obama backs US ports for expanded Panama Canal

Obama backs US ports for expanded Panama Canal
US President Barack Obama says the country’s ports will have to ready to handle larger vessels that will transit the expanded Panama Canal or risk losing business.

President Obama was visiting the port of Jackonsville and the TraPac terminal operated by Mitsui OSK Lines, along with US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx last week.

“In a couple of years, new supertankers are going to start coming through the Panama Canal.  Those supertankers can hold three times the amount of cargo.  We want those supertankers coming here to Jacksonville,” Obama said in a speech at the Jacksonville port terminal building.

“If we want our workers and businesses to compete, then our ports have to be ready to receive those supertankers.  Otherwise, they’ll go to Brazil or some other place.”

The expansion of the Panama Canal is more than 50% complete and targeted to be operational by mid-2015, allowing containerships of up to 13,200 teu and large sized LNG carriers to transit. With the port of Jacksonville expanding its container terminal capacity it would be looking to handle the larger boxships transiting the expanded canal.

Obama said he had acted in Congress last year to speed up on the process of new port projects. “We’re building the same kind of partnerships across the country - especially, by the way, in some of these Gulf ports - Charleston, Savannah.  And now, these ports are on track to be better prepared for those supertankers and their cargo loads ahead of schedule,” he said.